Coronavirus: Govt paying attention to second wave of outbreak in Europe – Oppong Nkrumah

The government of Ghana says it is keenly observing developments of a rise in COVID-19 cases in some western countries in Europe, America, and Asia.

According to the Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, with the situation heightening the risk of the virus in Ghana, the government of Ghana is going to enforce strict protocols outlined for inbound flights at the Kotoka International Airport.

“The government of Ghana takes note of the fact that at this point our borders or our air borders are opened to flights from some of these countries, thereby heightening our risk. At this time therefore, the government of Ghana is going for a strict observation of the inbound flight protocols that we outlined a few weeks ago that the airports were opened,” he stated at a press conference held on Sunday, September 27, 2020.

The minister, while stating that this is to help Ghana mitigate the threat of a second wave of COVID-19 in western countries, also noted that the government will continue paying attention to the development in order to make an informed decision on whether to impose travel restrictions on the affected countries.

“At the same time whiles we will continue to strictly observe the developments in these countries and these developments will inform whether or not Ghana would consider some travel restrictions from these countries,” the minister noted.

Ghana on Tuesday, September 2, 2020, opened the Kotoka International Airport to inbound and outbound traffic after the airport was closed in March this year.

Ahead of the reopening government announced some safety protocols for flights and arriving passengers as a measure to mitigate the importation of COVID-19 cases into the country.

As part of the measures, arriving passengers have been mandated to present a negative PCR test result of not more than 72 hours old and to also undertake a rapid COVID-19 test at the Kotoka International Airport at a cost of $150.

Currently, Ghana’s COVID-19 case numbers are; 477 active cases, the total number of recorded cases are 46,353 out of which 45,577 are recovered whiles 299 persons have died from complications related to the infection