Government has announced new guidelines at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA), to strengthen the existing protocols to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 in Ghana.

As of January 1,2021, 712 positive cases of COVID-19 have been recorded at the KIA, out of 118,278 tests conducted.

The positivity rate among international arrivals in Ghana rose from 0.26 per cent in September 2020 to 0.93 per cent in December, with 387 cases recorded in that particular month alone.

The Government, on reopening of the country's airport in September last year, indicated that all passengers arriving in Ghana must possess a negative PCR test result, which should have been conducted not more than 72 hours before departure from the country of origin.

In his 21st televised address on Sunday night, on enhanced measures against the spread of COVID-19, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo announced new guidelines to be implemented at the KIA in addition to the existing ones, to limit the importation of new Coronavirus variants.

Therefore, he said, all arriving passengers who test positive for COVID-19, asymptomatic or not, would undergo mandatory isolation and treatment at a designated health facility or isolation centre.

The President said the isolation would be for a period of seven days at the cost of Government.

However, the final discharge of cases would be based on existing case management guidelines and protocols.
Additionally, all passengers who are in isolation would undergo a repeat COVID-19 test within 24 hours of arrival, with the cost also borne by Government.

That test, he said, would also include genomic sequencing for COVID-19.

The President said all passengers who tested negative for COVID-19 would be required to adhere continuously to COVID-19 safety protocols, and would receive regular information on COVID-19 within five days of arrival in Ghana.

President Akufo-Addo gave the assurance that, Ghana's COVID-19 testing regime at the country's airport was amongst the strictest in the world, as certified by the Food and Drugs Authority.

And that it was capable of detecting the new variant of COVID-19, which was plaguing other nations around the world.

He appealed to all Ghanaians to ensure compliance with the COVID-19 protocols.

The President indicated that with Ghana set to procure her first consignment of the COVID-19 vaccines within the first half of this year, there was light at the end of the tunnel.

...."But, we are not yet out of the woods. So, let us all continue down the path of strict adherence to the protocols. There is nothing beyond us, the Ghanaian people were the first in sub-Saharan Africa to gain our freedom from colonial rule. We can do it," he assured.

Ghana's active cases stood at 897 as at January 1,2021, with 18 persons severely ill, 55, 220 cumulative positive cases and 336 so far succumbed to the respiratory disease.