The Director-General of the Ghana Health Services has revealed that as of March 8, a total of 1,260 people out of 185,406 passengers who arrived at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) tested positive for Covid-19 .

Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye made this known when he updated the media on Ghana's current standing on the Covid-19 pandemic as well as the status of vaccinations in the country.

According to him, 729 passengers out of the 1,260, accounting for some 57.9 per cent of those who tested positive at KIA are non-Ghanaians.

Among the 1,260, males make up 62.3% which translates to 785 positive cases while females account for the remaining 475, representing 37.7%.

He further revealed that in January 2021 Ghana recorded the highest number of positive Covid-19 cases of 430 as compared to 109 cases in February and 16 in the first week of March.

To curb the importation of the virus into the country, KIA revised its safety measures in February 2021 to ensure that all protocols are strictly observed by passengers travelling to Ghana.

All passengers arriving in the country on international flights (including those arriving from the ECOWAS region) were expected not to have symptoms suggestive of Covid-19 including but not limited to a body temperature of more than 38°C.

In addition, airlines who board passengers without PCR test results or transport passengers with positive PCR test results into the country are to be fined a sum of US$3,500 per passenger.

Dr Kuma-Aboagye however observed that KIA continues to "see a decline in recorded cases and the positivity rate among passenger".

That notwithstanding, he stated that there is the need to "maintain the Covid-19 safety protocols in order to maintain gains".