Nearly 7 million persons have been vaccinated against the Covid-19 virus in Ghana so far, according to the Ghana Health Service.
This figure represents a little over a quarter of govt’s target to vaccinate 20 million people in Ghana, in a bid to achieve herd immunity against the covid-19 pandemic.
According to the GHS it has about 13 million doses of covid19 vaccines and it is expecting a further 8-10 million more doses.
Currently, there are 738 active cases in Ghana with 1,243 deaths recorded.
The GHS has also announced that all adult visitors must provide proof of vaccination to enter the country, in an effort to prevent the escalation of coronavirus cases over the holiday period.
A person must have taken the full recommended doses of vaccines approved and registered by Ghana’s Food and Drugs Authority, which includes one dose of Johnson & Johnson and two doses of AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna or Sputnik V.
Other arrival requirements include a negative PCR test taken at least 72 hours before travel and an antigen test upon arrival?? remain unchanged.
Meanwhile South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is receiving treatment for mild COVID-19 symptoms after testing positive on Sunday (12 December), the office of the presidency said in a statement.
He has delegated all responsibilities to Deputy President David Mabuza for the next week.
Ramaphosa “started feeling unwell after leaving the State Memorial Service in honor of former Deputy President FW de Klerk in Cape Town earlier today,” the presidency statement said.
He is, however “in good spirits” and is being monitored by the South African Military Health Service of the South African National Defence Force.
South Africa, where scientists identified the new Omicron variant, has recently entered its fourth wave of the pandemic. Just over 25% of the country has been fully vaccinated, with an additional 5% partially vaccinated.
Ramaphosa, who is fully vaccinated, recently returned from a trip to West Africa. He tested negative for COVID-19 upon his return to Johannesburg on 8 December, according to his office.
The President is now in self-isolation in Cape Town.
In a related development, the federal government of Nigeria is set to restrict airlines coming from Canada, the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia, into Nigeria from Tuesday, December 14, 2021.
This was disclosed by the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, on Sunday in Lagos, according to News Agency of Nigeria.
The government took the decision to reciprocate restricted flights from Nigeria into those countries over the new COVID-19 variant, Omicron.
Sirika stated that countries that placed a travel ban on Nigeria due to the Omicron Covid-19 variant lacked a moral right to have their airlines fly into Nigeria on commercial operations.
Sirika however, apologized to Nigerians intending to travel to those countries but said the Nigerian government’s decision was in the interest of the country.
The Canadian and the UK government had imposed travel restrictions on citizens of Nigeria.
The decision was taken following an increase in the number of cases of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 across the world. The UK is the third country to impose a travel ban on Nigeria after Canada and Singapore.
By: Isaac Clottey
