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The Ghana Medical Association (GMA) has called for an urgent scaling up of free improved testing in all communities across the country.
Association Secretary General Judge Yankson in an interview on Joy FM’s noon New Tuesday stressed that the rapid increase in Covid-19 cases in the country is alarming.
So the government needs to strategize and quickly identify hot spot communities and conduct rigorous testing in those areas.
“We can strategically map certain areas and test as many as possible. We can’t test everyone, but once we’ve identified the key hot spots, we have to go in, work with the data we got.
“This is very important because, if access to testing becomes difficult due to funding issues, if we don’t take the time, we could have big problems,” he said.
Dr Yankson also instructed the government to go beyond appealing to citizens and start enforcing security protocols.
“The Delta variant is spreading very quickly and looking at the trend we are reaching our peak, so the possibility for us to break this current transmission train will mean that we have to strictly adhere to security protocols.
“As individuals we can do our best, but some may be recalcitrant and this is where enforcement should come in. The two should complement each other, we can’t just talk to people when only a few of our people have been vaccinated and the masses who haven’t are not adhering to the protocols, ”he stressed.
It comes as the West African Center for Infectious Pathogen Cell Biology (WACCIP) has warned that the Delta variant has taken over in community transmission of the Covid-19 virus in Ghana.
The Delta variant has, in particular, been blamed for the third wave of the virus in the country, with more critically ill patients and more deaths.
The study also found that the delta strain constitutes about 90 percent of the community spread in the country.
WACCBIP Director Professor Gordon Awandare said dominance of the Delta strain is inevitable.
He said, however, that the Center is on high alert for another variant which was first observed in Mauritius.
“It was only a matter of time, and our data only confirms what was inevitable, because wherever Delta has been, it has taken over.
“What was also interesting for us was that there was another variation taking over and then Delta came in and basically took that one out, but we have to keep an eye on that. ‘it’s called B11318 and it’s a variant that’s been around for a while and we have to keep an eye on it, ”he said.
Currently, active cases of Covid-19 in Ghana stand at 6,276 with 844 deaths.
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