The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has stated that persons who are unvaccinated against Covid-19 are more susceptible to death if infected by the virus.

According to the Director-General of GHS, Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, such individuals are seven times more likely to die if they contract the virus compared to a vaccinated person.

The GHS boss made this known on Sunday while addressing the press on the additional measures taken by government to control the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic ahead of the Christmas festivities.

“Information from the Ghana Infectious Diseases Centre shows that among the severe and critical cases, 97 were unvaccinated. Among the Covid-19 deaths in a particular month where we had 16 deaths, two amounting to 12.5 per cent were vaccinated but these two people had severe underlying medical conditions,” he said.

In view of this, he underscored the need for everyone to get vaccinated.

The GHS has employed the use of the AstraZeneca, Moderna, Pfizer, Sputnik-V and Johnson & Johnson vaccines in its exercise. The government has procured some 12,324, 710 doses of Covid-19 vaccines in its fight against the pandemic.

Currently, a total of 1,404,122 Ghanaians have been fully immunised against the virus, representing 7 per cent of the entire population.

Meanwhile, the Ghana Health Service has revealed that the country has seen a decline in the number of active cases in the past two months. The Greater Accra Region remains the largest Covid-19 hotspot.

He blamed this occurrence on the gross disregard for the Covid-19 safety protocols.

Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye also noted that for the past two weeks, the Kotoka International Airport has recorded a surge in cases. These cases were recorded by international travelers.

As of November 28, a total of 629,831 tests have been ran at the airport. These tests showed that 3,093 of the passengers had contracted the virus.

As at November last year, the GHS recorded 163 cases at the Kotoka International Airport.

“There has been a surge mostly among Ghanaians who participated in an international religious conference. It also mimics what had been happening outside. There is a surge in Europe and some parts of the world so the airport tests continue to pick these signals. I think it is something we must take seriously. It is a warning for us to see that these are times we need to be more careful,” Dr Aboagye added.

He also gave the assurance that the 72-hour PCR and antigen test will be strictly enforced.

As of November 25, 2021, active cases recorded stood at 713 with 22 being severe cases. The country’s total death toll is now 1,220.