Ghana's COVID-19 death toll on Thursday, inched closer to half a thousand following the confirmation of 12 new fatalities by the Ghana Health Service (GHS).

This new death pushed the country's death toll to 494, from a previous 482 announced on Monday, February 9, 2021.

Additionally, the country has recorded 554 new infections from seven regions, raising its active cases to 6,948 from a previous 6,938, since the last update.

The new infections are from tests conducted as of February 07, 2021.

They are from the Greater Accra, Western, Eastern, Ashanti, Central, Upper West and Ahafo regions.

The latest update also disclosed that 532 more people have recovered, bringing the total of clinical recoveries and discharge to 66,115.

Currently, 113 of the active cases, it said, were in severe conditions, with 29 in critical condition. These cases are being managed in treatment sites, isolation centres across the country, while some were under home management, the GHS said.

Ghana has so far recorded a total of 73,557 cases of the virus since it confirmed its first two cases in March 2020.

Out of the total confirmed cases, 27,119 were from the General Surveillance; 45,275 cases from the Enhanced Contact Tracing, while 1,163 have been recorded from international travellers disembarking at the Kotoka International Airport since it was reopened on September 1, 2020, the update stated.

A total of 817,990 tests have also been conducted, of which 252,524 are from routine surveillance, 407,788 from contact tracing, while 157,678 are from international travellers arriving through the Kotoka International Airport.

The positivity rate is 9.0 per cent.

Currently, all sixteen regions have an active case.

The Greater Accra Region remains the hotspot for the virus in the country, accounting for more than 50 per cent (3,471) of active cases and with a cumulative case count of 43,044.

Ashanti Region has 1,256 active cases while its case count now stands at 13,231 followed by the Western Region with 582 active cases and cumulative cases of 4,164.

Others are: Eastern Region has 262 active cases, cumulative cases is 3,211; Central Region with 298 active case count, total cases now 2,498; Volta Region, 248 active cases, total cases stands at 1,181; Bono East Region with 71 active cases and 882 case count and Northern Region has active case count of 149 active cases and cumulative cases of 802.

The rest are:

Upper East Region – 155 active cases, 755 case tally

Western North Region - 27 active cases, 737 cumulative cases

Bono Region- 59 active cases, 718 cumulative cases

Ahafo Region- 15 active cases and 565 cumulative cases

Upper West Region – 92 active cases and 251 cumulative cases

Oti Region- Six active cases and 250 cumulative cases

Savannah Region – Two active case, 68 cumulative cases

North East Region - 10 active cases, 37 cumulative cases

Also, there are 245 active cases and 1,163 cumulative cases from international travellers via the KIA.