The United Kingdom has arranged emergency charter flights to take its citizens back to their home country amid an outbreak of coronavirus in Ghana.
In a tweet by the official British High Commission account, the UK government said the move is to support anyone wishing to return back home to do so with ease.
“To facilitate the return home from Ghana of as many UK-resident British Nationals as possible, CTM is working on the authorization of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office to get them on to flights back to the UK. If you are a British national normally resident in the UK and currently visiting Ghana, and you wish to return the UK.”
The cost of the flight is £500 for each traveller.
“Emergency return flights have been arranged for Sunday 29th March. If you complete this registration, you should have your bags packed and be prepared to depart Accra by the afternoon of Sunday 29th March”, a statement from the dedicated website for the exercise said.
Already, the US Embassy in Ghana has evacuated 305 Americans from Ghana in the wake of the pandemic.
A statement published on the Embassy’s website said the American citizens were sent back to the US on March 25, 2020.
It added that the repatriation exercise was done with support from the Government of Ghana.
COVID-19 cases in Ghana hit 152
Ghana’s case count for COVID-19 has increased to 152 as of today, Sunday, March 29, 2020.
This followed the confirmation of 11 new cases by the Ghana Health Service.
Ten (10) of the new cases were among persons who were under mandatory quarantine in Tamale under the direction of the Regional Security Committee of the Northern Region.
The 10 cases involved Guinean residents who travelled through Burkina Faso and Togo to Ghana and were picked up following intelligence report.
The eleventh case was recorded in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region.
The 10 Guineans are currently asymptomatic; yet to show signs of COVID-19, but the government says it is collaborating with the relevant authorities in the West African sub-region to send them back to their home country for treatment.
The 10 Guineans who were confirmed COVID-19 positive in Ghana arrived in Ghana before President Nana Akufo-Addo’s directive for the closure of Ghana’s land, sea and air borders.
The Minister for Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah who made the announcement at the press conference said they will be sent back to their home country for treatment.
“The information I have is that the Ghanaian and other West African authorities are completing arrangements so that they can be repatriated to their county of origin so that treatment to take place there. So they will not be treated in this jurisdiction,” he said.