The over 200 Ghanaians deported from Kuwait on Saturday tested negative for COVID-19 in that country.
This was disclosed by the Aviation Minister, Joseph Kofi Adda.
According to him, the tests were done in Kuwait prior to their arrival in Ghana.
Kofi Adda added that health officials in Ghana have also taken the samples of the deportees for independent testing.
“Where we have gotten so far, the test is generally negative, [but] our internal medical experts will conduct another round of test to be sure that they are truly negative,” he told Citi News.
The over 200 deportees arrived in the countryon Saturday, May 23, 2020, after the government of Ghana agreed to a request by the Kuwaiti government to deport some Ghanaians living in that country illegally.
The deportees came in through a chartered flight. The cost was taken care of by the Kuwaiti government.
According to the Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, the deportees will be tested for COVID-19 in Ghana and will undergo a 14-day mandatory quarantine or isolation, depending on the test results.
“We are quarantining them for two weeks, do an initial test and those who are positive will be sent to an isolation centre or treatment centre and observe the rest for two weeks and do a retesting before they are discharged. I believe that they may have come in here with some test but knowing how this virus is if you have tested negative today doesn’t mean you will be negative tomorrow. So we are going through our routine protocol to check to make sure they are healthy,” Dr. Kuma-Aboagye said in a Citi News interview.
Ghana’s borders have remained closed since March 22, 2020, as part of measures to stop the importation of the novel Coronavirus into the country.
There are reports that a lot of Ghanaians are stranded in other countries due to the border closure.
Source: citinewsroom
About Author
