Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has commended the scientists at the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research and the West African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens both at the University of Ghana for their research on COVID-19 in Ghana.
The scientists through their research have been able to obtain information about the virus responsible for COVID-19.
The Vice President expressed pride in the scientists for the good job done in playing their part to fight the novel coronavirus.
“Congrats to our Ghanaian scientists at Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research & West African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens @UnivofGh for successfully finding the sequenced genomes of SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19. I am proud of them,” he said via his Twitter handle.
The research
A communiqué from the Public Affairs Directorate of the University of Ghana indicated that the scientists analysed 15 samples from some selected cases in Ghana to gain a comprehensive understanding of the differences of the virus in the country.
The samples were taken from travellers from UK, Norway, Hungary, India, United States, and the United Arab Emirates as well as nine from persons who had no history of travel and believed to have had community infections.
Per the statement, the Director of the West African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens, Professor Gordon Awandare is stated as saying that while there were some differences between the strains from the various countries, all the genomes have a resemblance to the strain isolated in the Wuhan Province where the outbreak began.
