Coronavirus: 31 foreigners refused entry into Ghana

A total of 31 foreigners have been denied entry into the country, following a travel restriction by the government to combat the coronavirus pandemic.

Those prevented from entry are foreigners who do not possess Ghana resident permits or have visited countries with at least 200 cases in the last 14 days.

They comprise people from Asia, Europe and other African countries since the ban kicked into effect at 1 p.m. on Tuesday.

At a press briefing on Wednesday, March 3, Deputy Comptroller General in charge of Operations, Laud Kwasi Ofori-Afrifa, disclosed that the embargo has resulted in drastic cuts in the number of travellers en route to Ghana.

The first batch of people to be turned away were two Italians on an Air France flight on March 16. The passengers were allowed to disembark, except the Italians, who were taken back by the commercial airline.

Twenty-four Chinese and one German were also prevented from entering Ghana through the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) on Tuesday.

Ghanaian authorities are also hard on cross-country travellers by road at the country’s borders.

On Tuesday, a Nigerian man who had travelled from South Korea to his homeland in the last 14 days before turning his attention to Ghana was turned away outright due to a high infection in the Asian country.

Also on Wednesday, a German and two Australians were sent away from the Aflao border, which connects Ghana to neighbouring Togo.

There are 45 entry points with Paga, Elubo and Aflao being the high flow areas.

An incident at the Abidjan airport in Cote d’Ivoire on Wednesday resulted in flight diversions to Ghana. However, airport officials at KIA refused the admission of the flights after consultation with the Civil Aviation Authority.

An Ethiopian airline flight, which touched down without permission, refuelled and continued its journey without passengers disembarking since the occupants were all foreign nationals.

A significant drop in passenger flow into Ghana has shown that major carriers have fewer Ghana-bound commuters.

Initially, British Airways flights carried 350 passengers, but only 140 were recorded on the last trip. The situation is similar for Air Portugal, which brought in 12 instead of 150.

KLM recorded 128 instead of 450, Kenya Airways registered 66 instead of 120 and Emirates brought 174, a considerable reduction from the regular 380, as on Tuesday.

The numbers further dipped on Wednesday as Kenya Airways landed with 26 passengers, Emirates 93, South African Airways 36 people, mostly Ghanaians from Washington, and 128 people from Ethiopian Airlines.

Meanwhile, border officials referred a Ghanaian woman from South Africa to health officials after showing signs associated with the coronavirus shortly after her flight landed.

At the same time, the two people who sat by her were quarantined for monitoring.

Ghana has seven imported cases with no deaths recorded.

Some 8, 908 persons have died from the virulent infection, with a total of 216, 833 cases worldwide since the outbreak. Currently, 123,542 people have been infected. 94% are in mild condition, whiles 6% are in critical condition.