The country has recorded 974 deaths in its fight against the Covid-19 pandemic since the emergence of the virus in March last year.

This is according to the Ghana Health Service (GHS) in its latest update on August 19.

As of August 15, the number of deaths recorded by the GHS stood at 945. There has been an increase of 29 deaths since the update.

Ghana's active cases stand at 6,737. Out of this figure, 139 persons who tested Covid-positive are in severe condition with 54 others in critical condition.

All sixteen regions in the country have recorded active cases.

Also, 518 new cases have been recorded. This brings the total confirmed cases to 115,102.

Meanwhile, 107,391 persons who fell victim to the virus have recovered and have been discharged from the health facilities.

To curb the spread of the virus, the Ghana Health Service will begin administering the Johnson & Johnson vaccines in places identified to be hotspots in all regions across the country by next week.

This is according to the Programs Manager of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI), Dr Kwame Amponsa-Achiano.

This is after the Greater Accra and Ashanti Regions on Friday ended the immunization exercise of the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccines with approximately 155,000 vaccines administered in the two regions.

On the other hand, the World Health Organization (WHO) has urged African countries to focus on vaccinating persons described as most at-risk to avoid needless deaths from Covid-19.