During the covid-19 pandemic that affected almost every nation of the world, the government of Ivory Coast closed its land, sea, and air borders on March 22, 2020, in order to curb the spread of the deadly disease. 

On Wednesday 15th February, the Ivorian Government spokesman announced reopening its land borders after meeting the council of ministers.

Amadou Coulibaly, the government spokesman said “the council adopted a decree opening the land borders of Cote d’Ivoire”, noting that the borders will be reopened “at midnight” on Wednesday.

However, the country’s sea and air borders were reopened after a few months but its land borders with neighboring countries like Burkina Faso, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, and Mali remained closed.

The closure spurred millions of people from these neighboring countries residing in Ivorian to take back roads to cross the border.

Coulibaly said, “we are now in control of the clandestine transit routes, we urge all travelers to use the official routes from now on”.

According to official figures, the country also recorded a relatively low toll of about 800 deaths from a population of 27 million people.