General News of Saturday, 4 April 2020

Source: 3news.com

951 due to be discharged after 14-day mandatory quarantine

<i>Dr Patrick Aboagye, Director General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS)</i> Dr Patrick Aboagye, Director General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS)

About 951 Ghanaians who had travelled into the country from Tuesday, March 17 and compulsorily quarantined are due to return home.

These persons have tested negative over the quarantine period.

“We promise that by Sunday almost all would have left,” the Director General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Patrick Aboagye, said on The Key Points on TV3 on Saturday.

A total of 1,276 persons were put under mandatory quarantine even before President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo announced a two-week closure of Ghana’s borders on Saturday, March 21.

It came after travel restrictions were imposed on travelers from Coronavirus-hit nations. Ghanaians returning home were, however, allowed entry but sent into mandatory quarantine.

No passenger planes were allowed entry after Sunday, March 22 as per President Akufo-Addo’s directives.

Most of these Ghanaians put under mandatory quarantine were taken to luxurious hotels and fed three times with a daily meal allowance of GH¢100.

About 79 of these persons were found to be carriers of coronavirus and were immediately put under medication.

Those who tested negative before, during and after their quarantine are the ones to be discharged on Sunday, April 5.

Dr Aboagye told host Abena Tabi that all is set for these persons to return home.

He indicated that arrangements have been made for those going beyond Accra to be allowed by security personnel seeing to the current lockdown to cross over to their various destinations.

He said free transportation arrangements have been made for all these persons.

Ghana has officially confirmed 205 cases of the coronavirus with five passing away.

Forty-nine of these persons are responding well to treatment and could be discharged any moment soon to join those to be dispatched from Sunday.