Probe alarming rate of COVID-19 cases recorded at KIA - Centre for Health Policy Research

According to the Executive Director of the African Centre for Health Policy Research and Analysis, Dr. Thomas Anaba, an investigation into the incident to help ascertain the veracity of the results.

He said: "To be sure these are really positive tests, we need a third-party research laboratory to take the samples and rerun them. If they re-run them and it is positive, it means that perhaps from the country of origin, the people managed to get their lab reports indicating they are COVID negative because they think it is very imperative to come to Ghana. I am calling for investigations to be done on the samples that came positive to ascertain the veracity."

The management of Frontier Health Services has said the number of COVID-19 cases keeps rising at Kotoka International Airport (KIA) as travelers arrive in the country.

The company in a letter signed by the Managing Director, Dr. Kudzo Seneadza, said between April 21 and 24, an "unprecedented" 120 positive cases were recorded from arrivals.

The letter to the Managing Director of Ghana Airports Company Limited, Yaw Kwakwa, said on Saturday, April 24, 2021, stated that it recorded 75 positive cases, which is the highest daily number of positive COVID-19 cases at the airport.

Meanwhile, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Minority caucus in Parliament has called on the government to put measures in place to curtail the spike in COVID-19 positive cases being recorded at the Kotoka International Airport in Accra.

The Ranking Member on Health Committee of Parliament and Member of Parliament (MP) for Juaboso, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh said information gathered by the minority caucus in Parliament on the increase of cases at KIA is alarming.

According to him, the government should begin to introduce travel restrictions amid the surge in the imported cases.

In a statement, he said: "Government should also consider travel restrictions on countries currently experiencing high COVID-19 infection rates to reduce the possibility of importing COVID-19 infections into the country. Some countries have already implemented these measures and Ghana should also consider doing the same.

"Government must double its efforts to address these issues. First, a determination must be made on how so many travelers are able to pass through the first screen procedure of a PCR test at their country of origin and land in Ghana having a COVID infection. This may indicate either poor tests or fake results."