Ghana issues travel advice over rising coronavirus cases in Asia, South America

The Government of Ghana has advised its citizens to either cancel or postpone all non-essential travels to countries with exceedingly high COVID-19 infection rate.

Ghana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration in a statement issued on Thursday April 29, 2021, said the advice was based upon the high rate of COVID-19 infections in some parts of the world, especially in Asia and South America.

“In view of the alarming rate of infections of COVID-19 in some parts of the world, especially in Asia and South America, the Ghana Health Service wishes to advise the general public to either cancel or postpone all non-essential travels to countries with exceedingly high COVID-19 infection rate,” the statement said.

India is one of the Asia countries in which infection rate has skyrocketed in recent days. The number of infections in India surpassed 17 million in recent days, and the official death toll now exceeds 190,000.

Shashi Tharoor, a former UN under-secretary-general and former Indian Minister of State for External Affairs and Minister of State for Human Resource Development, notes that: “ India launched its vaccination drive nearly two months after the United Kingdom, but by April, only 37% of health workers, and barely 1.3% of India’s 1.4 billion people, had been fully vaccinated. Only 8% had received at least one vaccine shot.”

Brazil is also struggling to contain the rising in COVID-19 infections. The BBC reports that “the number of deaths related to COVID-19 in the South American country has passed 400,000, the second-highest in the world, as the country continues to struggle with its vaccination programme.

The report notes that there were 3,001 deaths in 24 hours, after a peak of more than 4,000 was reached at the start of April. The 14-day average of deaths and cases remains high but has seen a slight fall.