The government of Ghana has imposed a temporary ban on travelers from countries that have recorded 200 or more cases of coronavirus.
However, the ban is not applicable to Ghanaian citizens or foreigners with valid Ghanaian resident permits.
The travel ban was announced by the Minister for Information, Mr Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah at a media briefing on the update of the COVID-19 in Accra yesterday.
The Information Minister also revealed that the government of Ghana is at this moment discouraging any form of travel to the country.
“All travel to Ghana is strongly discouraged. Non-Ghanaian citizens who within last 14 days have travelled to countries with more than 200 confirmed COVID-19 cases are barred from Ghana. There is also a mandatory 14-day self-quarantine upon entry to Ghana”, Mr Oppong-Nkrumah reiterated.
The new measures have been taken after Ghana announced that it has recorded 4 more cases of the deadly coronavirus, bringing the official number of cases to six in the country.
Three of the cases, according to government, were recorded in Accra while one other was recorded in the Ashanti Region.
The Director of Public Health at Ghana Health Service, Dr Badu Sarkodie who provided updates on the country’s cases said the new cases were also imported into the country.
He explained that the Ashanti and Greater Accra regions recorded two new cases on Friday, March 13, 2020.
According to him, a 56-year-old Ghanaian male who returned from a UK trip on March 4, reported himself to health facility eight days after developing symptoms similar to that of COVID-19.
“Samples were taken to the Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine and tested. The results were positive,” he said.
Dr Sarkodie said the affected person is receiving treatment and is in stable condition.
The second, he indicated, is a female student at the University of Ghana who traveled to the US and was there for 10 days and returned on March 9, 2020.
She started showing symptoms on March 12 and reported to a health facility in Accra.
Her samples were taken to the Noguchi Memorial Institute of Medical Research where tests returned positive.
Dr Sarkodie said the lady is also receiving treatment at an undisclosed facility and is in a stable condition.
A 42-year-old man is the third patient.
Dr Sakordie said patient travelled to Switzerland and the UK and returned to Ghana on March 9.
He reported to the health facility on March 14 after showing symptoms.
“Samples, again, were taken to Noguchi were they returned positive. He is being treated and is stable”, Dr Sarkodie said.
He said the final case is also a 41-year-old Ghanaian who travelled to Turkey and Germany in the last 14 days.
The patient, he indicated, “reported himself to the Tema General Hospital where samples were taken and sent to Noguchi. The results were positive.
“The affected person is also receiving treatment and is stable”.
According to Dr Sarkodie, none of the cases was picked up at the country’s entry points because the patients showed no signs then.
He stressed that all six cases were imported into the country.
Govt issues preventive guidelines
Meanwhile, government as part of its strategy to combat the spread of COVID-19 in the country has announced some preventive measures for social event organisers and managers of companies to observe.
Minister for Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said organisers of social events and managers should provide hand washing stations and hand sanitizers to workers and attendees.
He indicated that attendees and workers should be regularly reminded to observe the preventive etiquettes at regular intervals to ensure that the risk of getting infected is minimal.
“There should be frequent cleaning and disinfection of washrooms and frequently touched places such as doorknobs and stair rails.
“Organisers and managers should also make available adequate waste management facilities such as single-use tissues and closed bins,” he stated.
This comes after the Ghana Health Service confirmed four more cases of the deadly virus in the country, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to six.
The Minister further urged citizens to remain calm and adhere to the preventive measures instituted by GHS in the wake of the pandemic.
The Covid-19 which started in December 2019 at the Wuhan Province of China, was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday since it has affected about 162,578 people and killed more than 6,069.
The deadly virus has spread to over 60 countries across all continents except Antarctica.
