With effect midnight Sunday, March 22, 2020, Ghana will close all its borders to human traffic. The closure, however, will not apply to goods, supplies and cargo. President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in a televised address on Saturday disclosed that the move is to prevent further spread of the novel coronavirus, Covid-19.
“All our borders, that is, by land, sea and air, will be closed to human traffic for the next two weeks beginning midnight on Sunday,” he said.
All travellers arriving in the country before midnight on Sunday will be required to undergo mandatory quarantine and Covid-19 testing.
“Anybody who comes into the country before on Sunday will be mandatorily quarantined and tested for the virus,” President Nana Akufo-Addo added.
Ghana’s Minister for Information, Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, had earlier disclosed that travellers from high-risk countries with more than 200 cases of the Covid-19 would not be allowed into the country. The only exceptions were Ghanaian citizens and persons with Ghana residence permits.
Confirmed cases
Ghana’s index cases of the coronavirus were announced on March 12.
Twenty-one cases have been confirmed as at 21:15 GMT March 21. One death was announced by the president in his address. Existing cases are therefore currently 20.
“Unfortunately one person who tested positive for the virus, but had serious underlying health complications, passed away in the early hours of today,” President Akufo-Addo said.
He said all the others are responding to treatment. Eight of them are being managed from their homes in isolation.