The Embassy of the United States (US) in Ghana has on Tuesday, 17 March 2020 suspended temporarily routine non-immigrant and immigrant visa appointments.

This was made known in a statement released by the Embassy on Tuesday.

According to the statement, “Out of an abundance of caution and in keeping with the Government of Ghana’s efforts to prevent and contain the spread of coronavirus, the U.S. Embassy Accra in Ghana is temporarily suspending routine immigrant and non-immigrant visa appointments.”

Ghana has so far recorded six COVID-19 cases forcing the government to ban all public gatherings in order to prevent further spread of the virus.

The US Embassy, however, noted that it will “resume routine visa services as soon as possible” and encouraged persons who have “an urgent matter and need to travel immediately” to follow the guidance provided on their website to request an emergency appointment.

Meanwhile, emergency services for “U.S. Citizens in Ghana will continue. Routine services for U.S. Citizens in Ghana will continue on a reduced schedule to ensure the safety and welfare” of US citizens and employees.

The American Centre (Library) and EducationUSA Advising Centre at the Embassy in Accra and the American Corner at Agbogba - Accra, are also temporarily closed to the public beginning today.

The public will not be able to access the library during this period until further notice.

Also, all scheduled programmess inside EducationUSA Advising Centre and American Spaces have indefinitely been cancelled.

However, in Kumasi, though all “EducationUSA Advising activities have been cancelled, the testing centre still remains open.”

The US Embassy added that the health of its visitors is a high priority and “these temporary measures are precautionary and not in response to any known or suspected COVID-19 exposure at any of our facilities. The U.S. Embassy echoes the Government of Ghana’s call to observe prescribed social distancing and good personal hygiene measures to prevent community spread.”