COVID-19: Ghana gov't to announce travel restrictions today

The Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah says the government will make an announcement on travel restrictions on countries with confirmed cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) today.

He said the government will state its position on the matter at 12 pm after a meeting by the inter-ministerial committee on the COVID Response Thursday.

Mr Oppong Nkrumah in a radio interview on Accra-based Peace FM further disclosed that the meeting of the committee was chaired by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

He said the Committee was concluding some matters before coming out with a position, adding that consular services have already been suspended in a lot of the countries which have recorded confirmed cases of the Coronavirus.

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Suspension of consular services

The government has already suspended consular services provided by embassies and high commissions in countries affected by the Coronavirus.

The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Charles Owiredu said although consular services had been suspended, emergency services are still being provided.

“When this virus started spreading from the epicentre in China, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs through its missions decided to put in place some measures. Countries that were under total lockdown – countries such as China and Italy had restricted movements so what we said was that it was difficult for even consular officers, mission staff to even go to work and perform their jobs. So we suspended Consular services and once we have suspended consular services it does not mean we have banned it or it is under total lockdown,” Mr Owiredu said in a radio interview with Accra based Citi FM on Thursday evening.

“We have created some skeletal staff in these embassies and we have also provided consular numbers that when people call, expedited services will be provided. Once you call, if you are a Ghanaian in Italy, and you want Consular services, we have provided two numbers, call any of these numbers and somebody will attend to you. If it is about a passport you want or a visa service, your passport will be posted back to you so these are some of the measures we have put in place to curtail the spread of the virus. And I think so far it is working.”

Meanwhile, some Ghanaians on micro-blog Twitter have urged the government to close the national borders after two cases were confirmed on Thursday in the country.

The hashtag #CloseBordersNow was among the top trends on Friday morning.

Read some of the tweets below;