Information Minister-designate, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has disclosed government’s intent to step up its messaging on Covid-19 prevention protocols.
Speaking at the periodic Minister’s press briefing in Accra on Tuesday, February 2, 2021, he said government has put in place proper risk communication systems to inform the general public especially those in remote areas on the new strain of the virus.
The Ofoase-Ayirebi legislator stated there will also be additional education on ways to exercise preventive measures in these areas. This is to ensure strict adherence to the safety protocols of the virus in the wake of a surge in active cases and a reported new strain.
“You will notice that government is stepping up messaging on Covid prevention etiquette. This includes mass media messaging and then also through the Information Services Department vans out there to step up the message so that we get a lot more compliance to the mask-wearing mandate”.
He also cautioned Ghanaians to ensure absolute compliance to the safety protocols such as regular washing of hands with soap and under running water, physical distancing and the wearing of face masks.
The Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, on his part, said, majority of the active cases are from the Greater Accra Region (56.7%), followed by the Ashanti Region (16%) and the Western Region (6.1%).
Ghana’s Covid-19 total case count stands at 67,617 with 61,843 recoveries, an active case count of 5,515 and 424 deaths.
With this, Dr. Kuma-Aboagye bemoaned that there’s still an “increasing cases of workplace outbreaks”, calling for public adherence to safety protocols.
Meanwhile, a public health specialist, Nana Kofi Quakyi, has emphasized the need for more balanced communication on the threat of the coronavirus.
According to Mr. Quakyi, it is the duty of the government to spread calm and not fear, but he however explained that there is some importance in going the other direction “to let people understand the fact that that is the reality”.
“Even if we are saying we should not be spreading fear, it is important to make people understand that there is something out there to be afraid of.
“Even if we should not be having a mass panic about it, there is actually a deadly virus in circulation”.
The health specialist also cited the importance of persons in authority setting good examples by stating that in communication, “it is important that people get good cues about what they should do”.
Commenting on the Speaker of Parliament’s concerns over the non-compliance of some MPs on the Speaker’s directive on coronavirus tests by the MP’s, he stressed that, the defiance exhibited by the legislators does not augur well in reinforcing the seriousness of the virus spread.
“If people are looking at Members of Parliament saying they are not going to do that [test] or dragging their feet, it doesn’t help reinforce the messaging that this is important”.
Currently, Ghana is among the countries where a new variant of COVID-19 is spreading.
