District Public Health Emergency Committees in the Ashanti Region have been charged to ensure strict compliance to COVID-19 safety protocols to curb the rising confirmed cases in the region.

They should also take steps to address the disregard for the protocols and step up public education to prevent community spread of the virus.

The lack of action on the part of the committees at the district levels was a subject of discussion at a regional stakeholders meeting to discuss how to prevent the community spread of the disease in the region.

Participants at a meeting on the region’s risk communication strategies to sensitize the public to observe all the safety protocols to complement the government’s efforts to contain the pandemic said these.

It was attended by stakeholders drawn from the clergy, civil society, and Muslim leaders, Regional Coordinating Council, National Commission for Civic Education, Information Services Department, media and the police.

Participants of the meeting took turns to underline the need for the committees at the district level to up their games in the fight against the coronavirus.

They said the role of the committees in ensuring public compliance of the protocols was critical to the national response plan, which would not be successful without strict compliance by the masses.

They also called on the various assemblies to work in close collaboration with the health directorates to strengthen the committees and resource them to effectively perform their duties.

Dr. Yaw Ofori Yeboah, the Deputy Regional Director of Health Services in Charge of Public Health, said strict compliance of the safety protocols was the surest way to defeat the virus.

He said with the increasing number of cases, it had become more imperative for all stakeholders to join the crusade to halt further spread of the virus in the interest of public health.