Ghana records 7 omicron variants in community testing

The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has identified seven more persons infected with the COVID-19 Omicron variant, bringing the total number of cases to 41.

Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, said the cases were detected after conducting a community testing.

The Service, initially, recorded 34 cases at the Kotoka International Airport.

He said after the country recorded 34 cases of the new variant, the Service had sequenced about 66 community samples, which were all negative.

It, however, identified the seven variants after the second round of testing.
The Director-General said the dominant variant in the Ghanaian communities had, however, been the ‘Delta’.

Dr. Kuma-Aboagye said the variant was first detected in Ghana on November 21 among passengers who arrived at the Airport from Nigeria and South Africa through genomic sequencing.

“The good thing is that the variant has not been detected in any community in Ghana, but the danger is that if someone has the Omicron, and it is incubating, it will not be found at the Airport,” he said.

The Director-General said a surge in the COVID-19 cases among international arrivals was expected largely due to an anticipated increase in the number of arrivals.

He encouraged Ghanaians to get vaccinated as vaccination was the best intervention for breaking transmission of any infectious disease, reduced hospitalisation and disruption of social and economic activities.