The Ministry of Transport has directed all commercial bus (trotro) drivers to wash their vehicles after every trip.
This forms part of measures against person-to-person spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19).
They have also been directed to spray their vehicles with the Ministry of Health’s approved spraying materials before and after every journey. They are also to avoid overloading.
The sector Minister, Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, who announced the directives yesterday during a press brief briefing, warned that sanctions would be applied against recalcitrant drivers.
“The transport operators came up with the directive that, henceforth, any driver who fails to comply with these measures will not be allowed to load any passenger in their respective stations,” the Minister said.
Entry points
Taking his turn at the briefing, the Deputy Controller of Immigration in-charge of Command Post and Operations, Laud Ofori Afrifa, told journalists that officials from the Ghana Immigration Service had returned incoming flights from some countries at Kotoka International Airport.
They also prevented some foreign nationals from entering the country through the land borders.
“Two Italians travelling on Air France were refused entry into Ghana on Monday while 24 Chinese and one German national were also subjected to same on Tuesday,” he said.
He added: “another German and two Australians, who attempted to enter Ghana through the Aflao border, were also stopped and sent back to their countries. Another Nigerian, who had returned from South Korea four days ago, and was attempting to enter Ghana from the Aflao border, was also denied entry.”
He further disclosed that an Ethiopian Airline, which managed to land at Kotoka International Airport on Tuesday, was refueled and asked to fly back to its destination with all the passengers on board.
Case count/contact tracing
So far, 381 people have been identified to have been exposed to the Coronavirus disease in the country, according to Head of Public Health, Ghana Health Service.
Dr Badu Sarkodie said at yesterday’s press briefing that all the contacts have been linked to the first six Coronavirus patients in Ghana.
He added that contact-tracing results for the seventh patient has begun, adding that none of those who have been identified have shown signs of COVID-19.
Battle-ready
Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah also told journalists that the government, while hoping for the best, is preparing for the worst-case scenario.
“Health experts tell us that the next two weeks are going to be critical in determining whether or not we are going to get significant community spread. They tell us that the general theory pandemic management is that, often, it is likely the numbers go up a bit before it curves or the situation gets better.
“Therefore, they are bracing for the possibility of some limited recordings of more cases in the medium term, but they continue to assure us that the systems they are putting together and continue to ramp-up are such that we will be able to contain it and hold this virus in check,” he stated.
