The Head of West Africa Center for Cell Biology and Infectious Pathogens, Professor Gordon Awandare has confirmed that the Indian variant of Coronavirus is in Ghana.
The Indian strain also called ‘Delta’ according to the World Health Organization (WHO), is of much concern as compared to other known variants of COVID-19, forcing the biomedical science officials to declared it “alarming”.
WHO has declared delta a “variant of concern” last month. A variant can be labeled as “of concern” if it has been shown to be more contagious, more deadly or more resistant to current vaccines and treatments, according to the health organization. The agency said delta is becoming the dominant variant of the disease worldwide.
“Due to its nature, this virus strain vaccines like AstraZeneca and Sputnik V cannot fight it, although taking them will keep you ‘somehow’ immune to the new strain” Professor Awandare revealed.
But he has assured that perhaps it is time the country turn its attention towards procuring Pfizer and other vaccines which have better chance of protecting against the virus.
This new variant will be the second to be recorded in Ghana after the genomic sequencing has been discovered by Ghana scientists in January, 2021.
Health Officials have admitted that the Indian variant once again entered Ghana through the Airport.
Professor Awandare revealed that the government must intensify the campaign on the COVID protocols in all the main entry points of the country, which he belied will be a sure way of preventing the influx of the virus into the country.
Studies have shown so far that the Indian strain code named Delta, is easier to spread, a situation that demands urgent action from the central government to prevent it from spreading further.
While Health Authorities are making moves to manage the situation, Professor Awendare has called for concerted effort from the general public to protect against the new strain.
Dr. Paul Offit, Director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said Delta is now replacing alpha, the highly contagious variant that swept across Europe and later the U.S. earlier this year.
Studies also have suggested that Delta is around 60% more transmissible than alpha, which was more contagious than the original strain that emerged from Wuhan, China, in late 2019.
