Coronavirus patients from Ghana denied access in home countries

A significant number of Ghana’s active cases of the novel coronavirus have come from foreign nationals who travelled into the country with it.

Currently, most of the cases recorded in Northern Region are from Burkina Faso and Guinea, and there are threats by Ghanaian officials to repatriate them back to their home countries.

This decision, however, has become very tough as the respective home countries of these patients have rejected them vehemently leaving Ghana with no other option than to still keep these patients under her care. 

Salifu Saeed, Northern Regional Minister according to Joy FM, disclosed that authorities in Guinea are reluctant to receive eight of their citizens who tested positive for the coronavirus and have been quarantined in Ghana.

“Our headache is that the Guinean authorities are saying they will not agree for us to return them,” he said.

Also, two Burkinabes remain in quarantine as their home country also threatens to return Ghanaians who are critically ill in their country and receiving treatment.

This has, therefore, become a major diplomatic faux pas facing West Africa at the moment. 

Ghana’s current active cases of the novel coronavirus is 195 with five deaths.

About 58 infected persons are receiving treatment at home after 20 of them were recently discharged.