Coronavirus: More airlines to suspend flights

More airlines are expected to suspend their flights in the coming days, following the restrictions of flights from Covid-19 affected countries to Ghana.

President Nana Akufo-Addo had stated that flights from countries with more than 200 reported cases of the coronavirus will not be allowed to land at the Kotoka International Airport, to prevent further spread of the Covid-19.

Ghana reported its 7th case of the pandemic yesterday, with the person a Ghanaian who had returned from France, one of the most affected countries in the world. All the cases reported so far are imported ones.

Brussels Airlines is among the first airlines that announced suspension of its flights yesterday, followed by Emirates Airlines.

Brussels Airlines said "Given the extraordinary worldwide coronavirus crisis, we have decided to temporarily suspend our flight operations from Saturday, 21 March until 19 April, 2020 included."

Emirates said on its social media page that “In response to the latest developments in the COVID-19 outbreak around the world, Emirates is taking steps to ensure the health of all concerned and announces that flights to Ghana will be suspend from 21 March to 20 May, 2020.

“As the situation remains dynamic, our flight schedule will be constantly monitored for flight reinstatement.”

Government announced it stopped two Italians from entering Ghana.

According to Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, the move was to prevent further spread of the disease.

“There were two Italians who were coming from the epicentre and as soon as we got confirmation of the details, even though they were in the air, we had to make an arrangement at the airport to ensure that they do not get off the aircraft and that they are returned to their originating destination,” he told journalists Tuesday.