The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Moontouch Travel Limited, Radia Adama Saani, has advised government against admission of foreigners from high-risk coronavirus countries into Ghana.
The country opened the Kotoka International Airport on Tuesday, September 1, 2020 to passengers and businesses in order to bring back socio-economic activities which had been halted following the outbreak and subsequent spread of coronavirus in the country and across the globe.
Madam Adam Saani applauded government for setting up good safety protocols in preparing the airport for re-opening, especially with the introduction of a rapid mandatory Covid-19 PCR test for all passengers arriving in Ghana.
The test is said to take between 15- 25mins.
Allowing nationals from certain Covid-19 affected countries into the country, she explained, could put Ghanaian citizens in danger and the country could probably reverse the gains made in the fight against the pandemic.
Due to the unprecedented nature of the virus and a yet-to-be-found vaccine, she underscored an updated statistical analysis of cases of various countries must constantly guide the operations of the international airport.
As of Wednesday, September 2, the latest global Covid-19 data indicates a number of 25,933,731 worldwide cases have been recorded and total death of 861,884.
Speaking in an interview with 3news.com, the Tourism & Aviation industry Professional noted that just as government is taking gradual steps in easing the Covid-19 restrictions in education and other sectors of the national economy, same method should be applied to the aviation sector, with especial precautionary steps taken against the wholesale admission of foreigners into the country.
She indicated that countries around the globe which have already opened their airports still observe some restrictions to the Top 6 most affected countries notably: the USA, Brazil, Russia, India Mexico and Spain.
She revealed that the breakdown of statistics made available indicate that many countries especially the advanced ones still battle with the virus and the high rate of spread could still be looming.
“When you look at countries who have already opened their airports for tourists, such as China, Kuwait, UAE, Canada, Egypt, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia and many others, there are aviation restrictions from certain countries and airlines.”
In considering the best measures required to defeat the virus, Radia Adama Saani, who is also an Aviation Professional, advised that only Ghanaian Citizens arriving from the above mentioned red-flag countries should be accepted into Ghana but with negative Covid-19 test certificate dated not more than 5 days prior to the departure date and they will undergo an additional PCR test again on the date of arrival.
This same method has been very effective in UAE and some others.
Also, passengers should temporarily be discouraged from travelling into the country with pets especially dogs.
“Ghana must reflect on how the virus found its way into the country and not complicate our current improved situation,” she added.
“We have to be extremely cautious in carrying out this exercise. We must carefully examine Covid-19 countries with high risk and consider the appropriate measures to take instead of treating all nationals equal upon their arrival,” she submitted.
Source: 3news.com|Ghana