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• Mr. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah
Airlines that pick up and drop off passengers at Kotoka International Airport (KIA) without proof of negative PCR tests for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) will be fined $ 3,500 per passenger at fault.
Airlines that bring in passengers with positive COVID-19 test results will also be fined the same amount.
The measure, which takes effect immediately, is part of the adjustments the government has made to the National COVID-19 Guidelines at the KIA.
In turn during the Minister’s press conference, a platform created to provide weekly updates on the national COVID-19 situation, in Accra yesterday, the designated Minister of Information, Mr. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, said now declared that foreigners who arrived in the country and tested positive at the airport would bear the cost of treatment themselves.
According to him, until now, all costs of handling arriving passengers have been borne by the government.
“From now on, all Ghanaians who leave and return to the country within the week will no longer be required to present a negative COVID-19 PCR test. However, they will have to undergo mandatory tests at the airport and other subsequent management arrangements in place depending on the outcome of the results, ”added the minister designate.
Mr. Oppong Nkrumah said that apart from the above changes, all existing guidelines are still in effect.
He said transit passengers would not, however, be required to take the COVID-19 test in Accra; instead, they would be required to comply with the COVID-19 testing requirements of their destination countries.
He also said the airline crew were exempted from taking the COVID-19 test in Accra, but were expected to adhere to special arrangements made for them.
He said passengers who arrived in emergency circumstances, such as hijacked flights, would not be required to take the test if they did not leave the airport.
Tests at KIA
According to the Ghana Health Service (GHS), by January 2021 the national burden was less than 1,000, but due to failure to adhere to safety protocols and the spread of the mutated UK variant, active cases had now risen to 6,707 .
A total of 810,040 tests had been performed, of which 250,238 were from routine surveillance, 403,120 from contact tracing, while 156,682 were from international travelers arriving via KIA, the GHS said.
Context
Ghana’s air, sea and land borders were closed for the first time on Sunday March 22, 2020, following an order from President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as part of efforts to curb the spread of COVID- 19 in the country.
The president had, Sunday, August 30, announced the resumption of the operations of the KIA on Tuesday, September 1, 2020 according to certain strict guidelines.
Under these measures, every passenger disembarking at the KIA was required to wear a face mask, possess proof of a negative coronavirus PCR test from an accredited laboratory upon arrival, as well as undergo a COVID-19 test. mandatory.
The test had to be carried out no later than 72 hours before the planned departure from the country of origin. All airlines have also been tasked with ensuring compliance with the directive for passengers traveling to Ghana.
The cost of the test was to be borne by the passenger and the test results were available within 30 minutes. However, children aged five and under were not required to be tested at the airport.
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