The Chairman and Leader of the National Risk Communications and Social Mobilization Committee of COVID-19, Dr. DaCosta Aboagye, has admonished individuals, organizations and agencies involved in the sharing of food to the underprivileged in lockdown areas to stick to the physical and social distancing protocols announced by President Akufo-Addo as part of measures towards the containment of the deadly coronavirus in the country.

According to him, anything short of that, will spell doom for the country and retard all the gains that have been made in our collective national fight against the pandemic, which has become the biggest existential threat to the survival of the human race, and an epitome of destruction to the world. He therefore cautioned all the organizations and individuals in the food distribution chain including the Gender Ministry, NADMO, NGOs and other philanthropists to ensure that the protocols are strictly adhered to.

His comment comes at the back of news reportage on both traditional and social media to the effect that persons queuing for foods in the various lockdown areas are doing so in flagrant disregard to the protocols. Indeed, the media, in the past weeks, have been awash with videos showing huge crowds of vulnerable members of society queuing for foods.

But speaking to GTV on Thursday, April 16, 2020, Dr. DaCosta, who is also the Director of Health Promotions at the Ghana Health Service, said, the failure to observe the social distancing protocols in the sharing of food is putting the lives of the people in the queues as well as those sharing the food at risk of contracting and sharing the deadly virus.

“Practicing social distancing should be an uncompromising consideration by all persons involved in the sharing of food in order to avoid the spread of the novel COVID-19”, he observed.

Dr. DaCosta also called on all health promotion officers to use their expertise through the regional health doctorates and district health management systems to work with the information services department staff and MMDAs to improve social distancing health education across the country.