Northern Regional Health Promoter, Yakubu Rahinatu is backing calls not to release the identities of persons who have tested positive of Convid-19.
According to her the attitude and level of fear in many Ghanaians could lead to stigmatization of the infected persons.
She believes there is still a high number of intolerant people in the communities and could take the law into their hands to harm infected persons.
Ms Yakubu was speaking at a training session in Tamale for some selected journalists drawn from Upper East and Northern Regions on how to report appropriately on the covid-19 pandemic.
She urged the media to rather help in demystifying the many myths and the false information about Covid-19 so as to reduce the level of fear and panic in society and also help the public to know and adhere to the prevention measures.
“Considering the number of infected cases in the world and temperatures of the affected areas, it will not be right for people to continue propagating that Convid-19 cannot survive in areas with hot temperature, rather the public will have to be vigilant and follow all measures put in place to curb the spread,” she said.
A Health Promotion Specialist with the Ghana Health Service, Joel Abekuliya said curbing the spread of Covid-19 is a shared responsibility where the public will have to comply with government orders and adhere to measures to prevent the spread.
“If we all make it a point to protect ourselves and also protect others from being infected, we will be working to curb the spread. If infected persons will agree to quarantine themselves or be quarantined irrespective of the challenges that may come with it, they will be helping to prevent others from being infected and gradually we will be reducing the number of infection.”
FROM: Ebo Bruce-Quansah, Tamale