General news from Tuesday, January 19, 2021
Source: Happy 98.9FM
1/19/2021
Director of Health Promotion in the Health Service of Ghana (GHS), Dr. Dacosta Aboagye
The Ghana Health Service (GHS) reported that the new strain of the pandemic COVID-19 has a higher and faster infection rate compared to the first strain.
The Director of Health Promotion of the Health Service of Ghana (GHS), Dr. Dacosta Aboagye, shared that the new strain of the virus is transmitted between fifty to seventy (50-70) times faster.
According to him, Ghana has already recorded cases of two different strains of the virus. One from the UK and one from South Africa.
“Both variants spread very quickly and I think they have the same symptoms as the first version of the virus. But, the only difference is that the transmission is very fast. The new variants travel between 50-70 times faster than the normal ones we know about ”.
He noted that the different strains were imported into the country through Kotoka International Airport (KIA), but these individuals were placed in isolation.
“We all know that, with the reopening of our borders, we demand that anyone entering the country take a PCR test from their country of origin and, when they arrive in Ghana, do the antigen test and ask to isolate themselves.
“However, we recently changed our policy a little bit and insisted that anyone with a positive test for COVID-19 will be housed at our facility for a second test.”
Dr. Dacosta noted that, for the second test, the positive cases were subjected to genetic sequencing and that was when “we noticed that they were infected with the new variants from the United Kingdom and South Africa”.
The Director of Health Promotion of the GHS assured the population that positive cases of the new variants are receiving treatment in isolation and in treatment centers under the Ghana Health Service.
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Information from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) suggests that several variants of COVID-19 are circulating globally.
In the United Kingdom (UK), a new variant called B.1.1.7 has emerged with an unusually large number of mutations. This variant spreads more easily and quickly than other variants.
This variant was first detected in September 2020 and is now highly prevalent in London and southeastern England. Since then, it has been detected in several countries around the world, including the United States and Canada.
In South Africa, another variant called 1,351 emerged regardless of the variant detected in the United Kingdom. This variant, originally detected in early October, shares some mutations with the variant detected in the United Kingdom. There have been cases of this variant outside South Africa, but it has not been detected in the United States.
In Brazil, a variant called P.1 emerged and was identified in four travelers from Brazil, who were tested during routine screening at Haneda airport, outside Tokyo, Japan. This variant contains a set of additional mutations that can affect their ability to be recognized by antibodies.
These variants seem to spread more easily and quickly than other variants, which can lead to more cases of COVID-19. Currently, there is no evidence that these variants cause more serious illness or an increased risk of death.
However, an increase in the number of cases will put more pressure on health resources, lead to more hospitalizations and potentially more deaths.