This follows the scheduled reopening of the Kotoka International Airport to international Traffic, effective Tuesday, September 1, 2020.

The PCR test takes between 15 to 30 minutes for the result to be out and is a quicker way of knowing the COVID-19 status of arriving passengers.

Speaking a press conference on Monday, Deputy Health Minister, Dr. Bernard Okoe Boye, said the $150 fee was reasonable, as other countries were charging higher fees.

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“As a ministry and a government who are stakeholders in the management of COVID-19, we were very much interested in the cost of the test,” he said.

“We wanted to make sure that the cost of the test will not put an unnecessary burden on the passenger. So we quickly looked at what is being charged across the globe. When you go to a place like Zimbabwe you will pay about $210 for the test.

“In China, you will pay about $150 for the test. In Togo and Benin you will pay about 150 euros and in Nigeria, it is 130 dollars but you will have to go to a hotel and lodge till the results are ready. With the turn around time and accuracy of the test assured, we had to decide whether the $150 was enough to cover all the expenses. We finally agreed to peg it at that for now.”

Meanwhile, the opposition National Democratic Congress’s (NDC) Dr. Edward Omane Boamah believes the fee is exorbitant.

He took to Twitter to accuse the government of using the pandemic to cash in on arriving passengers.

“Why charge 150 dollars for PCR at the airport when it costs below $100. Don’t cash in on Covid-19,” Dr. Boamah wrote.