Nine more persons have succumbed to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) disease, increasing the death toll to 725 the Ghana Health Service (GHS) has revealed.

The death toll as of Tuesday, March 16, 2021 stood at 716.

An update from GHS said, Ghana as at Thursday, March 18, 2021, recorded 182 new cases, while the cumulative number of active cases was 3,196.

According to the GHS, the country has recorded a total of 89,682 cases of the virus since it confirmed its first two cases in March last year.

However, 306 more persons have recovered from the illness bringing the total recoveries and discharge to 85,761 with 35 persons in severe condition and 16 others in critical condition.

Main breakdown

Out of the total confirmed cases, 57,194 were from Enhanced Contact Tracing, 31,193 from General Routine Surveillance and 1,295 from International travellers at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA).

Also, out of 970,048 tests conducted, 482, 578 were from enhanced contact tracing, 294,454 from routine surveillance and 193,016 from international travellers arriving from KIA. The positivity rate is now 9.2 per cent.

Currently, all 16 regions have an active case.

The Greater Accra Region remains the hotspot having 1,664 active cases with a cumulative case count of 49,628.

The Ashanti Region has 251 active cases with a case count of 15, 213 followed by the Eastern Region with 167 active cases and a cumulative of 4,093 then Central Region with 139 active cases and 3,201 cumulative case count.

Meanwhile, the Savannah Region has the lowest active cases of 17 infections and a cumulative case count of 114.

More vaccines coming

The Director of the GHS, Dr Kuma Aboagye while addressing a press briefing on Sunday afternoon [March 21, 2021] said Ghana was still pursuing additional vaccines as well as sustaining the public education on adherence to safety protocols and vaccine uptake.
"I'm sure we are all asking when the next vaccines are coming."

“So far Ghana needs about 42 million doses, that is if we are using only two dose vials for all, to vaccinate the 20 million people we have targeted to do by October [2021] and this include the anticipated wastage and that is why it is 42 million.

"So far we have 12 million plus from the COVAX facility which will cover about six million people covering 20 percent of the population."