The government of Ghana, on Friday morning, 7 May 2021, took delivery of 350,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccines to kick-start the second phase of the COVID-19 vaccination programme.

The consignment, which is under the Covax facility, arrived from DR Congo through Istanbul on a Turkish Airline.

It was to arrive on Tuesday, 4 May 2021 but delayed due to international vaccine politics, President Nana Akufo-Addo explained in his May Day address.

He, however, assured the nation that the government was working hard to secure the vaccines “so we can hope to return our country, our economy and our lives to the normalcy we all so desire.”

Meanwhile, Ghana’s active COVID-19 caseload has risen slightly to 1,593.

Of that number, there are six critical, 23 severe cases.

Some 28 new cases have also been confirmed recently.

A total of 783 people have died since the virus entered Ghana in mid-March 2020.

Since that time, a total of 92,856 have been recorded up to date with 90,480 of them having recovered.

Regional breakdown:

Greater Accra Region - 51,123

Ashanti Region - 15,523

Western Region - 5,836

Eastern Region - 4,178

Central Region - 3,383

Volta Region - 2,467

Northern Region - 1,654

Bono East Region - 1,430

Bono Region - 1,398

Upper East Region - 1,319

Western North Region - 874

Ahafo Region - 712

Upper West Region - 498

Oti Region - 422

North East Region - 228

Savanna Region - 122