Health professionals testing some Covid-19 samples
Ghanaians have been advised by Professor Gordon Awandare, the Director of the West African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens (WACCBIP) at the University of Ghana, to strictly adhere to the safety protocols following revelations that the UK-variant of COVID-19 is predominant in the country.
WACCBIP in a recent survey identified that the UK variant of COVID-19, known to mutate and spreads faster, is currently predominant in the country.
Professor Awandare has confirmed that the new variant is driving the local transmissions in Ghana.
He explained in an interview that the situation is worrying, and can only be properly managed if Ghanaians adhere to the protocols.
“What is clear is that if you take samples at random, most of them is the UK strain. That is what is clear. I think that this disease is not going to go away if people don’t take the protocols seriously. If people don’t stop the gatherings, don’t wear their masks, social distance or wash their hands, they will be infected. So people need to be on high alert”, he admonished.
Spreading fast
This new variant, which is also known as B.1.1.7 SARS-CoV-2, is one of a few mutated strains of the virus which scientists say could be more contagious and is fast-spreading in about 70 countries worldwide.
WACCBIP arrived at this conclusion through its January sequencing of samples from its sites across the country.
“Data shows clearly that B.1.1.7 (first reported in the UK) is now the predominant strain driving local transmission in Ghana,” Dr Awandare said in a Facebook post.
Self-medication
Meanwhile, the acting Director of the Ghana Infectious Diseases Centre (GIDC), Dr Joseph Adjetey Oliver-Commey, has advised the public against self-medication and rather seek early medication to help avert the rise in the rate of fatalities from the COVID-19.
He said self-medication is becoming a major problem in managing the national COVID-19 burden.
Dr Oliver-Commey, who is also a member of the National COVID-19 Management Team, said there is enough evidence to prove that apart from the fact that the mutated strain of the virus is causing severer disease in people exposed to it than the traditional form of the virus, self-medication is a major phenomenon complicating the already bad situation and contributing to an increase in mortality.
He advised, during an interview, that Ghanaians seek early treatment, instead of waiting until the situation deteriorates in order to increase their survival rate.
He explained that the severity of cases caused by the new strain requires that people exposed to it report to the hospital on time because early intervention is life-saving
The acting Director of the GIDC said with information now widely available, people are resorting to self-medication, which is putting their lives at risk, just as self-medication does in all medical conditions.
“Unfortunately, people who have tested for the virus in private facilities and are positive and people who feel they are exposed to the virus are resorting to either prescription on the Internet or prescriptions over the phone from some health professionals.
“These doctors write and sign such prescriptions, screen and send them to their clients through various phone messaging and email platforms,” he said.
“Others also sit at home and take all kinds of concoctions, and by the time they feel worse and report to the hospital, their situation is near death already.
“Everybody has become an expert, led by the doctors, the nurses, the laboratory scientists. Friends are also sharing their prescriptions. It is contributing to the current problem that we have. People are just taking medications without any laboratory follow-up; but, mind you, medicines are not toffees.
“When the situation becomes quite bad, then they move to hospitals and die there. With regard to what is happening now, yes, there is a mutation, but apart from that, people are self-medicating,” he added.
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