COVID-19: Ghana’s Death Toll Now 568, Active Cases 7,773

At least three more persons have died of COVID-19 taking Ghana’s death toll to 568, health officials announced on Thursday.

The country’s active cases now stand at 7,773 after 418 new coronavirus cases were confirmed at the laboratories.

As at 15 February 2021, the Ghana Health Service (GHS) reports that the country’s total confirmed cases increased to 78,689 out of which 70, 348 have recovered.

So far, 92 persons are in severe condition while 28 remain critical, according to GHS. Cases detected at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) are 1,191 with 992 recoveries.

Breakdown of regional cases: 

Greater Accra Region – 45,616

Ashanti Region – 13,890

Western Region – 4,595

Eastern Region – 3,454

Central Region – 2,736

Volta Region – 1,458

Bono East Region – 972

Upper East Region – 896

Northern Region – 877

Bono Region – 865

Western North Region – 773

Ahafo Region – 645

Upper West Region – 328

Oti Region – 260

Savannah Region – 72

North East Region – 61

Accra and Kumasi to get first vaccines

Meanwhile, the two main COVID-19 hotspots in the country, Greater Accra and Ashanti Regions, will be first beneficiaries of vaccines yet to arrive, the Ghana Health Service (GHS) has said.

Speaking in an interview with Nana Yaa Mensah on The Asaase Breakfast Show on Monday (15 February), Dr Kwame Amponsah Achiano, Programme Manager of Expanded Immunization Programme at the Ghana Health Service said the plan is to first target the hotspots.

“We have also prioritized the hotspots and so the initial dose is basically going to be given to Greater Accra Metro and Kumasi Metro because that is the hotspots, so that is what the plan is,” he said.

Dr Achiano added: “For these hotspots that is the segmentation, it is not a nationwide thing, because for 355, 000 doses if you add the cover, it will not cover the whole nation.”

Cost of vaccination

Touching on expenses, Dr Achiano said it is estimated that vaccinating one person will cost USD$3.

“So, I can talk of the 355,000 but from the top of my head we have estimated USD$3 per person vaccinated which translates to about USD$1.5 per initial vaccination because everybody is going to get two,” Dr Achiano said.

He added: “And so you can multiply that by the number of persons vaccinated and you get the total cost, $51.7 million is for the entire 20 million and if we get the operational cost for delivering two doses at different interval and this include everything else plus even the cold chain facility.”

Currently, the average cost of COVID-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca is between USD$4 and USD$7.