The Ghana Union of Traders Associations (GUTA) has expressed grave concern about China’s latest policy shift scrapping quarantine rules for travellers arriving in that country from January 8, 2023.
The Associations fears, China being a leading trade destination for many Ghanaian traders, the new policy could cause a spike in Ghana’s Covid-19 cases.
After almost three years of closed borders, this will reopen China to those with work and study visas, or seeking to visit family.
It also scrapped a cap on the daily number of flights. This is a major shift from the country’s zero-Covid policy.
“‘The Ghana Health Service should evaluate the situation in China and advise Ghanaian travelers accordingly,” GUTA’s President Dr. Joseph Obeng requested in a statement on Thursday.
“As we all know, China is a major destination of import for many Ghanaian traders, and as a result of the long wait, most Ghanaian businesses will want to resume their business trips to this productive and beautiful country.”
According to GUTA, it is imperative for Ghanaian authorities “to examine and evaluate the situation and advise Ghanaian travelers” due to the fact that Covid-19 is still prevalent in China .
In a related development, on Wednesday evening the US became the fifth country to impose restrictions on Chinese travellers – as China prepares to issue ordinary passports and visas in a huge step away from COVID measures that have isolated the country for nearly three years.
The decision taken by the US is also due to concerns about a surge in cases and a lack of transparency from the Chinese government.
“There are mounting concerns in the international community on the ongoing Covid-19 surges in China and the lack of transparent data, including viral genomic sequence data,” US officials said in a statement quoted by news agencies.
“Without this data, it is becoming increasingly difficult for public health officials to ensure that they will be able to identify any potential new variants and take prompt measures to reduce the spread.”