COVID-19 Evacuation: 41 Stranded Ghanaians Return Home From US

Some 41 Ghanaians have arrived in Ghana from the United States of America as part of the government’s arrangement to evacuate stranded citizens from foreign land amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The development comes on the back of an announcement by Foreign Affairs Ministry June 4 that it was facilitating some chartered flights to carry Ghanaians back home despite the closure of the country’s international borders.

“Following the return from Kuwait, I am pleased to inform this august House about government’s efforts to extend the evacuation exercise to other parts of the world,” Foreign Affairs Minister Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey told Parliament on June 5.

The citizens who were transported from Washington DC are mostly students USA-sponsored exchange programme.

The evacuees entered the country’s airspace on a South African Airways flight Saturday morning the Kotoko International Airport.

They are undergoing a two-week observation following during which they will be mandatorily quarantined at a hotel in the capital.

Kuwait returnees

The Ghana Health Service (GHS) says some of the over 200 Ghanaians who returned from Kuwait have tested positive for coronavirus.

Director of Public Health at the Service, Dr Badu Sakordie during a press briefing on Thursday said he has been informed that some of the returnees have tested positive but will wait for official confirmation of the exact number.

“There are indications that some of them have tested positive. We will follow up and when we have the full report, we will share appropriately,” he said.

Prior to this, tests conducted on the returnees by Kuwaiti health officials were negative.