The Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR), University of Ghana, Legon has appealed to the government to take a second look at the state of adherence to the COVID-19 preventive protocols and apply the needed restrictions.
According to the institute, this has become paramount because of some characteristics of the new delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 detected at the institute’s testing centre since April 2021.
It disclosed that sequencing of the SARS-CoV-2 done at NMIMR recently has revealed increased circulation of the Delta variant in Ghanaian communities compared to the earlier Alpha variants.
It indicated that the positive cases detected have very high viral loads indicated by low cut-off Cycle Thresholds (CT values) obtained in the real-time RT-PCR test.
A statement issued by the Institute said the CT values for the majority are between 15 and 20 compared to higher values of above 30 seen previously.
According to Noguchi, it has also been observed that the positive individuals are taking longer to clear the virus and that this is evident in the number of retests that still test positive.
“The higher viral loads observed in recent cases are attributable to the Delta variant. “Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is directly linked to how much virus is shed in droplets during sneezing and coughing, which also determines the spread through, talking, singing and other related activities.”
“The Delta variant has been reported to spread faster than the other variants and our testing observations confirm that,” the statement said.
Some clinical specimen submitted to the Institute, it said, have tested positive with high viral load and that 7.34% (840/6,538) of the positive cases recorded from asymptomatic persons who visit the walk-in centre to test for travel, work-related or school-related purposes from 1 June to 22 July 2021 have equally high viral load.
The Institute stressed that with a population of >80% unvaccinated, the country must be concerned that if these apparently healthy carriers transmit the virus to the unvaccinated, the state may have more serious outbreak to deal with as a nation.
It disclosed that some of the positive cases have taken the full dose of the COVID-19 vaccines hence the need for immediate measures to be put in place to curb the situation before it worsens further.
Source: MyPublisher24.com
