President Nana Akufo-Addo has said he is hopeful of opening Ghana’s borders to human traffic by 1 September 2020.

In his 15th COVID-19 address to the nation, the President said: “I know many still ask when our borders, especially our international airport, Kotoka International Airport, will be open.

“Under my instructions, the Ministry of Aviation, the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority and the Ghana Airports Co. Ltd., have been working, with the Ministry of Health and its agencies, to ascertain our readiness to reopen our airport.

“I want to ensure that we are in a position to test every single passenger that arrives in the country to avoid the spread of the virus.

“The outcome of that exercise will show us the way, and determine when we can reopen our border by air.

“I am hoping that, by God’s grace, we will be ready to do so by 1st September”, he announced.

“Until further notice, our borders, by air, land and sea, remain closed to human traffic”, he said.

Mr Akufo-Addo said for Ghana residents stranded abroad, “special dispensation will continue to be given for their evacuation back to Ghana, where they will be subjected to the mandatory quarantine and safety protocols.”

So far, Ghana’s COVID-19 death toll is 231.

The national tally of confirmed cases is 42,532.

However, 40,362 have recovered of discharged.

Some 322 new cases confirmed recently took the active caseload to 1,939.

So far, 16,615 of the total number of cases were discovered through routine surveillance.

The remaining 25,917 cases were detected through contact-tracing.

Regional breakdown

Greater Accra Region – 21,162

Ashanti Region – 10,560

Western Region – 2,899

Eastern Region – 2,088

Central Region – 1,784

Bono East Region – 716

Volta Region – 640

Western North Region – 580

Northern Region – 487

Bono Region – 480

Ahafo Region – 469

Upper East Region – 282

Oti Region – 215

Upper West Region – 88

Savannah Region – 62

North East Region – 18

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