About 136 students in a Ghanaian high school have been infected with the COVID-19 Delta variant, the Ghana Health Service (GHS) has confirmed.
During the most recent national COVID-19 update, 136 out of 550 samples taken among students in Achimota School came out positive, said Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, Director-General of the GHS. Aboagye said that three students from the school went to the hospital last month with symptoms of influenza, but ended up testing positive for COVID-19.
“Subsequently, other symptomatic students and contacts were identified, listed and tested for COVID-19. However, the majority of the students, who tested positive, are day students. We are doing the strategic testing of day students so that the infection does not spill into the community’’ Aboagye added.
Ghana first confirmed six cases of COVID-19 Delta variants among passengers arriving in the country on June 22. As of Sunday, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country has increased to 96,317. NAN reports
The super-contagious Delta variant, previously called B.1.617.2, has now spread to 92 countries worldwide, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). In countries like the UK, this variant has become the dominant strain with 90-99% of cases being caused by it.
Even as the United States is delivering vaccines globally, the variant currently only makes up around 20% of cases, but appears to be doubling every two weeks in the US.
All viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, change over time. Most changes have little to no impact on the virus’ properties. However, some changes may affect the virus’s properties, such as how easily it spreads, the associated disease severity, or the performance of vaccines, therapeutic medicines, diagnostic tools, or other public health and social measures.
The World Health Organization (WHO), which has given it the label Delta, has categorised it as a variant of concern (VOC). It has said it continues to observe “significantly increased transmissibility” and a “growing number of countries reporting outbreaks associated with this variant”.
