President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has announced the reopening of the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) from Tuesday, September 1, 2020.

This is after a thorough work by the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), the Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL), Ghana Health Service and the Ministry of Health.

Akufo-Addo made this known during his 16th televised address to the nation on the measure taken by the government to curb the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak in the country.

“I am glad to announce that the Kotoka International Airport will resume operations on Tuesday, September 1, 2020. This has been communicated to all international airlines,” he said.

He stated further that every passenger who arrives in the country must possess proof of a negative PCR test. The PCR test may take up to 30 minutes for the result of a test to be known.

Passengers arriving in the country will be required to take the rapid test at the upper arrival section of KIA’s Terminal 3. Passengers are to bear the cost of the COVID-19 test, estimated at between ¢250-¢500.

The test will eliminate the need for arriving passengers to be quarantined in hotels, which has been described as too costly for both the government and individual passengers to bear.

The KIA was closed to international passenger traffic about five months ago as part of the Coronavirus restrictions.

President Akufo-Addo as part of his address said, he is very optimistic that the reopening of the airport will not lead to new infections.

He, then, announced some guidelines to ensure that no case is imported into the country.

The guidelines are:

1. Any passenger arriving in Ghana must be in possession of a negative COVID-19 PCR test result from an accredited laboratory in the country of origin. The test should have been done not more than seventy-two (72) hours before the scheduled departure from the country of origin. All airlines have been instructed to ensure compliance with this directive for all passengers wishing to travel to Ghana, and those airlines who fail in this regard will be duly sanctioned;

2. disembarking passengers must do so wearing face masks;

3. upon disembarking from the aeroplane, each passenger will undergo a mandatory COVID-19 test at the airport terminal, at a fee to be borne by the passenger. The test result will be available within thirty (30) minutes;

4. children under the ages of five (5) will not be required to undergo testing at the airport;

5. passengers, who test positive for COVID-19, will be handled by the health authorities for further clinical assessment and management; and

6. passengers, who test negative, can, thereupon, enter Ghana to go about their lawful activities, and will be advised to continue to observe COVID-19 safety precautions during their stay in Ghana.

Meanwhile, the country’s land and sea borders remain closed.