Coronavirus: Travellers from China enter Ghana unchecked – Report

There are fears some students and others travelling from China have begun entering Ghana without the appropriate checks.

Investigations carried out by Adomonline.com revealed people travelling from China have easy pass into the country.

Through interactions with some of the travellers, they confirmed their arrivals into the country without the requisite 14-day period of quarantine for observations.

This revelation is in direct contrast to earlier reports and assurances given by the Head of Disease Surveillance at the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Franklin Asiedu Bekoe, who described measures put in place to avert the spread of the coronavirus into Ghana by the Health Service as impermeable.

Addressing journalists on the precautions being taken by his outfit against the widespread disease on Thursday, February 13, 2020, he stressed that personnel were undergoing various forms of training including specimen collection, packaging, security, and how to handle specimen without spilling and infecting the environment.

“Surveillance training is very important to sharpen the skills of medical staff to help others without unduly placing themselves in undue risk…”

Adomonline.com reports that some of the students in China confirmed that some of their colleagues who landed in Ghana recently were not quarantined for two weeks to know their true status.

According to a student who touched down on February 24, 2020, from China, he was made to pass freely after he filled a questionnaire. Adding that Chinese nationals were rather being separated from the rest.

“I just passed. I wasn’t quarantined. I just filled some questionnaire; the Chinese are rather being separated from the rest. I think they will call us back later,” he explained in a conversation on WhatsApp.

This development raises concern, especially after assurances were given that travellers to and from Hubei and Wuhan City in China would be quarantined for 14 days with about 2,500 people screened daily at the country’s only international airport, Kotoka.