Zoomlion disinfects Kotoka Airport ahead of reopening

Aviation Ministry in partnership with Zoomlion Ghana limited has disinfected the Kotoka International Airport ahead of the September 1, 2020 reopening to international flights.

The exercise forms part of government’s efforts at curbing the spread of the Covid-19 virus which most nations are battling with.

According to the Rev. Ebenezer Kwame Addae, General Manager Vector Control Services of Zoomlion, today’s infection is different and also augments earlier exercise undertaken a couple of months ago.

“You know the virus was imported and the airport is a high-risk area so the first disinfection exercise was to tame the virus but today, we are reinforcing what we did by adding more stronger but friendly disinfectants and it is also not combustible,” he explained.

The exercise started from the Terminal three and later moved to Terminal two and Terminal one. Other areas including the apron areas,  airport clinic, offices of the airlines, the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority offices, the training school  and “every other place is being disinfected and we want to assure public that this is not just a one off exercise but it will be done quarterly as advised by the World Health Organization, however daily disinfection will also be done at high risk areas of the airport,” Rev Addae assured.

He further assured that there will be enough sanitizers for public use while other protocols are going to be followed because it is an integral part of the disinfection exercise aimed at solidifying the effort of controlling the virus at the airport.

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This morning’s disinfection exercise came at the back of the announcement by the President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in his 16^th Covid-19 address to the nation that Kotoka International Airport will reopen and resume operations from Tuesday, 1st September 2020, adding that this decision has been communicated to international airlines across the world.

“It has been well-established that the very first cases of COVID-19 in Ghana were imported into our shores. We are determined to make sure this scenario does not recur. The commitment to ensuring that the gradual easing of restrictions, including the reopening of our airports, does not lead to the importation or resurgence of the virus into our country, is firmly in place,” he stated.

As part of the presidential directive to the international airlines, any passenger arriving in Ghana must be in possession of a negative COVID-19 PCR test result from an accredited laboratory in the country of origin. The test should have been done not more than seventy-two (72) hours before the scheduled departure from the country of origin. Also disembarking passengers must do so wearing face masks.

Upon disembarking from the aeroplane, each passenger will undergo a mandatory COVID-19 test at the airport terminal, at a fee of USD150 to be borne by the passenger. The test result will be available within thirty (30) minutes. However, children under the ages of five will not be required to undergo testing at the airport.

Passengers, who test positive for COVID-19, will be handled by the health authorities for further clinical assessment and management.  But passengers, who test negative, can, thereupon, enter Ghana to go about their lawful activities, and will be advised to continue to observe COVID-19 safety precautions during their stay in Ghana.