Government has said it will bear all costs involved in the isolation and treatment of flight passengers coming into the country through the nation’s premier airport, Kotoka International Airport (KIA).
This was announced by the president in his 21st televised address to the nation on Sunday, January 3, 2021.
According to the president, “all arriving passengers who test positive for COVID-19, asymptomatic or not, will undergo 7 days mandatory isolation and treatment at a designated health facility at the cost of government.”
“All passengers who are in isolation will undergo a repeat COVID-19 test within twenty-four (24) hours of arrival, with the cost also borne by Government. This test will also include genomic sequencing for COVID-19,” also noted President Akufo-Addo.
The new measure announced by government follows a spike in detected Covid-19 cases among flight passengers at KIA.
“As of 1st January 2021, a total of seven hundred and twelve (712) positive cases, out of one hundred and eighteen thousand, two hundred and seventy-eight (118,278) tests conducted, have been recorded among international arrivals at the Kotoka International Airport.”
“Indeed, the month of December alone recorded three hundred and eighty-seven (387) cases. The positivity rate among international arrivals rose from 0.26% in September to 0.93% in December.”
“These developments call for strengthening of the existing protocols to prevent the spread of the disease in Ghana, in light of the new variant of the virus,” the president stressed.
The president further posited that, the country’s Covid-19 testing regime in place at KIA is among the strictest in the world and is capable of detecting the new variant of the Covid-19 virus currently plaguing some nations around the globe.
Government’s decision to bear Covid-19 isolation and treatment costs of all arriving passengers will result in government losing millions of cedis with the rising number of international arrivals.
Seeing that this is an unplanned expenditure of government, this could result in a further deepening of the country’s fiscal deficit.
