The Aviation Minister, Kofi Adda, has hinted that domestic flights may resume this weekend.
According to him, the Ghana Airport Company Limited has put in place precautionary measures at all airports as the country continues to fight the spread of the novel Coronavirus pandemic.
Speaking to the media during a disinfection exercise at the Kotoka International Airport by waste management company, Zoomlion Ghana Limited, Aviation Minister, Kofi Adda said the reopening of Ghana’s airports for business will begin with only domestic flights in operation.
“The Airport Company, led by the port health officials would make sure that all the things that need to be installed to support the implementation of the protocols would take place. All the hand washing devices, sanitizers, and anything that needs to be done would be made available. And that would be checked by the Airport company and port health officials to ensure that all that is in place before we start operating. We are deliberately doing this because we want to start domestic flights first.”
“In all of Africa, we are the only country that closed down the airport and is about to begin so we have to make sure that we do it well and right so we can lead the way and set the example for other African countries to follow. Perhaps getting towards the weekend, we’ll now begin the domestic flights,” he noted.
The Minister further noted that foreign embassies and commissions in the country who would want to evacuate their citizens will be allowed to do so under a special arrangement.
“Permission will be granted to foreign embassies who want to evacuate their personnel as we’ve been doing. As and when they get permission and bring their personnel here, we’ll do what we normally do to ensure that the right thing is done to get them out of the country,” he said.
Closure of borders
As part of efforts to curb the spread of the novel Coronavirus in the country, President Akufo-Addo announced strict measures, which included the closure of borders to ensure that there is no further risk of importation of COVID-19 into Ghana.
Also, airlines were instructed not to allow persons from countries with over 200 cases of COVID-19 into Ghana.
Then on March 21, 2020, President Nana Akufo-Addo again instructed that all borders be closed. This was to last for two weeks but the ban is still in place.
The border closure which does not affect the import of goods, supplies and cargo, was later extended indefinitely.
