President of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA), Dr Frank Ankobea, believes if Ghanaians adhere strictly to the preventive protocols announced by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in the fight against COVID-19, it is possible to be like Wuhan in China where the pandemic started.
According to him, Wuhan Province has recovered from the new coronavirus pandemic attack due to the fact that residents in the province complied with the safety protocols and social distance directives put in place by their government.
“So, if we want our situation to be like that of China and Wuhan province in particular where there is no new reported case of the COVID-19, then our citizens must religiously follow directives in place for the fight against the virus.
“The President has mentioned all the directives and the preventive measures. We should not engage in social gathering, adhere to social distancing, wear nose masks, regularly wash hands under running water and use alcohol-based hand sanitizers to clean our hands intermittently and avoid touching our eyes, nose and mouth. We should all the time cover our mouths with tissues when coughing or use our elbows to cover our mouths when coughing,” he re-echoed on Okay FM’s Ade Akye Abia Morning Show.
The GMA President, however, feared that the low number of COVID-19 cases recorded in the country has rather led to some section of the public to wrongly conclude that the deadly virus does not exist. He therefore appealed to the media to be aggressive in their education and awareness creation of the pandemic.
“I am sure it is due to our adherent to the measures that we have not recorded high number of cases in the country; maybe the numbers would have escalated if we had not adhered to these preventive measures and so I don’t know if some Ghanaians want to see the numbers escalate before they believe the existence of the COVID-19 in the country.
“But let us continue to educate the public and create awareness of the existence of the virus . . . This is exactly what the people of Wuhan Province did to avert an escalation of the situation in China; there was nothing magically about it . . . simple obedience to protocols changed their situation. So, if we do same, we will be able to defeat this virus,” he stated.
Listen to him in the video below