The Ministry of Health (MoH) has announced that the grace period for strict enforcement of the directive to travellers entering Ghana and the airlines that bring them to comply with country’s new mandatory digital verification policy for laboratory (PCR) test results and certificates will soon elapse.
In a letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, date June 30, 2021 and signed by Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, Minister for health, the MoH noted that these measures were introduced to prevent the use of fake and forged lab results to board flights by unscrupulous travellers, who may then infect passengers.
According to the ministry, if that happens, it will reduce the effectiveness of Ghana’s on-arrival testing controls due to the incubation period of SARS-COV 2 virus. It further pointed out that the biggest risk to the country remains the importation of more dangerous variants of the virus for which local immunity has yet to be build up.
“Therefore, from 1st July, 2021, the following instructions previously communicated must be strictly adhered to by everyone falling into the identified categories,” part of the letter from the MoH to the Ministry of Foreign affairs and Regional Integration reads..
Under the category of travellers exiting Ghana, the letter instructed that travellers create an account on the AU-endorsed site: trustedtravel.panabios.org. on the check-in page, travellers can check for accredited laboratories by entering Ghana as their origin country.
It further stated that travellers should only visit laboratories that have the Trusted Travel (TT) logo next to their names on the platform.
Concluding on the category on travellers exiting Ghana, the letter further instructed that at the laboratory, travellers should give the same email address and mobile number they entered when creating their PanaBIOS account. “Once your result is ready, it will automatically appear in the account with the TT number issued by the lab that can be verified by Port Health” the letter stated and added that they should look out for an email from admin@panabios.org or an SMS message.
Speaking to the category of travellers entering Ghana, the letter instructed that travellers enter their origin country and set the destination to Ghana on trusted travel.panabios.org or the UNDP-endorsed Global Haven site: www.globalhaven.org.
It further commented that as much as possible, travellers should try to visit a TT laboratory and added that if there are none close to them, they should take their test at another accredited lab on the PanaBIOSor Global Haven labs registry.
“If you take a test at a TT lab and give them the same email address used to open your account, the result will be automatically delivered to your account bearing a TT code. Ensure that the test was conducted within 72 hours of your arrival in Ghana ” part of the instructions on travellers entering Ghana roads.
It continued that if travellers do not visit a TT lab, then they must upload their test results or certificate by choosing the “test taken at a nkn-TT lab option”. It added that the result/certificate will be immediately analysed for authenticity by an algorithm and the result displayed in a few minutes and further added that if accepted, they will be issued with a TCcode in the form of a QR code and alphanumeric number.
The instructions for the category of the Airlines with Landing Rights in Ghana, the MoH letter stated that no airline should bring passengers into Ghana without first pre-validating their TT code (recieved from a TT lab) or TC issued online after a genuine PCR test result has been uploaded and analysed using the PanaBIOS or Global Haven software.
Another instruction for that same category says that Airline must issue TCs on behalf of illiterates travellers who arrive at check-in with only their genuine PCR test results.
In conclusion for the category of Airlines with Labding Rights in Ghana, the MoH explained that failure to comply with these rules will lead to enforcement action against such airlines.
The aforementioned measures, according to the MoH are designed both for the national security of Ghana and the conveniences of travellers. “So we urge all parties to kindly and strictly comply for the public good,” the letter remarked and added that additional information and guides could be accessed on the Ghana Health Servuceand Africa CDC website (www.africacdc.org/trusted-travel) while customer service and technical support can be reached via globalhaven@panabios.org.
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