Following the discovery of the Omicron variant in the country, the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has voiced concern that the country would be added to the list of nations barred from international travel.
That, according to him, is a possibility, since it has occurred in other African nations, including Nigeria and South Africa.
The Ghana Health Service (GHS) revealed last week that a case of the variant had been discovered in Ghana.
Following that, the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research said that it had found 34 cases of the variant in sequenced samples taken from 120 returning travelers.
However, President Akufo-Addo said at a press conference at the Jubilee House on Tuesday, December 7, 2021, that the ban is not applied fairly.
Nonetheless, he said that the government would do all necessary to safeguard citizens from sickness at all times.
“Yes, obviously, I share the fear that we may also be blacklisted even though it has not been done on any basis because if it was done on a fair basis, South Africa itself would not be the object of the ban. People are acting in an arbitrary manner responding to political or racial or whatever considerations but there is nothing we can do about it except to protect ourselves and make sure we put ourselves in a good position.”
Meanwhile, the government has informed Ghanaians that it has implemented rigorous COVID-19 testing at Kotoka International Airport (KIA) to handle any instances of the novel Omicron variant in the country.
In an interview with Citi News, Dr. Anthony Nsiah-Asare, the President’s health adviser, said that the government would continue to enforce strict isolation for all visitors throughout the holiday season.
To combat the spread, he said that rigorous testing will be carried out at the airport.
“Because of the robust testing system that we have put in at the airport which we have even strengthened further for the Christmas festivities, we will continually be isolating anybody who tests positive and test him or her again on the third day, and if the person tests positive again, we will give him or her another seven days.”
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SOURCE: CITINEWS
