Ghana’s Ministry of Health has began a strict enforcement of PCR test results check on the PanaBios system, as part of measures to avert a third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
All passengers travelling in and out of the country, according to s statement issued by the Ministry of Health in Accra, are now mandated to register and generate a Trust Travel code on the PanaBios system that will be digitally verified by authorities at the Kotoka International Airport.
The deployment of the comprehensive technology for use by all travelers is part of efforts to avert a third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and to address the issue of fake results presented by some passengers to health authorities.
The technology christened PanaBios, which make digital verification of COVID-19 test results, is based on the African Union Trusted Travel and ECOWAS BIOMARS standard.
The technology platform, which is jointly powered by the Ghana Health Service and the PanaBIOS Consortium, covers all the authorized COVID-19 PCR testing laboratories in the country.
The IT system becomes the third safety layer—beside the PCR test required for arriving passengers and the conduct of an antigen test upon arrival for all travelers– in the West Africa country’s fight against the deadly respiratory diseases that has in recent days claimed more lives and infected hundreds in major economies such as India, Brazil and Turkey.
The third wave of the disease in these countries and the recent importation of the Delta variant–described as more infectious than the other known variants–have alarmed health authorities.
For instance, Nigerian authorities have announced that any non-citizen who has visited India, Brazil and Turkey will be denied entry into the country.
How to use the PanaBIOS system
Travellers must first check the test requirements of transit and destination countries on xchnage.panabios.org or www.africacdc.org/trusted-travel to ensure that their tests remain valid for the duration of their full trip. They are then required to enter their test results (TT) code and generate a Travel Code before travel on www.trustedtravel.panabios.org.
