A public health specialist, Nana Kofi Quakyi, has highlighted the need for more balanced communication on the threat of the coronavirus.
The government’s mantle has been to spread calm and not fear but Mr. Quakyi said there is some merit 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,” he said on The Point of View on Citi TV.
Mr. Quakyi also noted the importance of persons in authority setting good examples.
“In communication, it is important that people get good cues about what they should do.”
He was commenting on the Speaker of Parliament’s concerns that some MPs were dodging coronavirus tests.
“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,” Mr. Quakyi said.
Ghana is among the countries where a new variant of COVID-19 is spreading.
The new variant is more transmissible than previously circulating variants, with high viral shedding.
The variant is believed to have contributed to the recent surge in coronavirus cases that has seen Ghana rise to 5,358 with 416 deaths.