The Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman Manu has given assurances of the deployment of enhanced measures at Ghana’s airport to curb the surge in COVID-19 cases.

This comes on the back of a statement released by Frontier Healthcare Services alerting the country’s health officials of a surge in the number of COVID-19 cases recorded at the airport.

The company said it recorded the highest daily number of positive COVID-19 cases at the airport on Saturday, April 24, 2021.

Prior to that, the highest number was on Wednesday, April 21, 2021.

According to the company, the rate of positive cases being recorded at the airport in recent times is “unprecedented.”

But speaking to the media, Kwaku Agyeman Manu said the measures put in place by the government will help arrest the spike in COVID-19 numbers.

“We are aware, so we have put in place extra measures. We have issued travel advisories to some passengers to be quarantined. We are working on that but over the weekend, the numbers started reducing drastically. I think on Sunday, there was no case at all. So I think things are under control.”

GHS response

The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has also said the cases are a reflection of the surge in cases in many parts of the world.

Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye said several measures have been put in place to reduce the importation of COVID-19 to Ghana.

“In January, we recorded about 430 cases. In February the number came down. In March, it was only 93. Currently, we are doing about 193 cases. So it depends on the surge, and it always reflects what is happening in the neighbourhood and the rest of the world.”

“So the PCR test is part of the measures to check the importation of the cases and eliminate it. It usually reflects from areas where you have a surge. So far instance, if you have a surge in Asia, then you will see a lot of cases from there. So that is the indication.”

Minority demands travel restrictions

In the meantime, the Minority in Parliament is asking health officials to immediately consider the imposition of restrictions on arrivals from countries with high infection rates.

“The government should also consider a careful examination of the data and where necessary impose travel restrictions from regions that have travellers presenting fake or poor test results.”

“Government should also consider travel restrictions on countries currently experiencing high COVID-19 infection rates to reduce the possibility of importing COVID-19 infections into the country. Some countries have already implemented these measures and Ghana should also consider doing same,” it said in a statement.