Travelers arriving in Ghana from September 1, 2020 through the Kotoka International Airport will receive results of a mandatory COVID-19 test within a record time of 30 minutes.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in his 16th COVID-19 induced Address to the Nation announced government’s decision to reopen the airport to human traffic after several weeks of closure.
The decision however, comes with a league of protocols to be observed by passengers entering the country which include producing COVID-19 results from accredited laboratories from country of origin not later than 72 hours.
President Nana Addo indicated that “disembarking passengers must do so wearing face masks; upon disembarking from the aeroplane, each passenger will undergo a mandatory COVID-19 test at the airport terminal, at a fee to be borne by the passenger. The test result will be available within thirty (30) minutes; children under the ages of five (5) will not be required to undergo testing at the airport; passengers, who test positive for COVID-19, will be handled by the health authorities for further clinical assessment and management; and passengers, who test negative, can, thereupon, enter Ghana to go about their lawful activities, and will be advised to continue to observe COVID-19 safety precautions during their stay in Ghana”.
He stressed that Ghana is determined to ensure that no case of COVID-19 is imported into the country as it happened in March this year, sparking the spread of the virus in the country.
Ghana’s ability to improve the turnaround time for COVID-19 test results significantly shores up the country’s capacity to test for the virus.
