The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have announced a new order for all air passengers travelling to the United States.
Effective Monday, December 6, 2021, all travellers two years of age or older will need to get a COVID-19 viral test, regardless of vaccination status or citizenship, not more than one day before travelling by air into the United States.
The traveller must show a negative pre-departure viral test result to the airline before boarding the flight.
This was announced in a statement by the American Embassy in Ghana.
The statement also said: “If you recently recovered from COVID-19, you may instead travel with documentation of recovery from COVID-19 (i.e., your positive COVID-19 viral test result on a sample taken no more than 90 days before the flight’s departure from a foreign country AND a letter from a licensed healthcare provider or a public health official stating that you are cleared to travel). Same-day results are available at numerous COVID-19 testing sites in Ghana. Humanitarian exemptions to this Order will be granted on an extremely limited basis.”
It also added that wearing a mask over the nose and mouth is required on planes, buses, trains, and other forms of public transportation travelling into, within, or out of the United States and while indoors at U.S. transportation hubs such as airports and train stations.
Ghana has recorded 34 cases of the Omicron variant in sequenced samples that were taken from 120 returning travellers.
With the fear of the country entering a fourth wave of the pandemic and a possible surge in cases after the yuletide, the ministry of health has declared December as a month of COVID-19 vaccination.
Persons who are not vaccinated will be denied entry into places such as sports stadia, restaurants, beaches among others.
About 3,493,688 Ghanaians have been vaccinated so far.
