March 27

WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH
06
DAILY HERITAGE FRIDAY, MARCH 27, 2020
Editorial
New attitudes needed to fight coronavirus in Ghana
THE DAILY HERITAGE
was surprised to hear a market
woman say on Citi News at 8
p.m. one Saturday that she had
not made any attempt of protecting
herself against the
coronavirus, with another saying
God will protect the people.
This is scary because it depicts
how less some of the
Ghanaian people care about
serious issues and mostly leave
to chance most things that are
humanly possible to deal with.
This attitude is not limited
to the citizenry most of whom
can be said to be less informed
or are misinformed. Those
who are well informed and are
even obligated to take action
to save bad situations either renege
on their obligations or
discharge such obligations
haphazardly.
So far four more cases have
been confirmed in the country
in addition to the first two officially
reported on last Thursday
night but before they were
reported most of us wished
Covid 19 away. Now that it is
here, what are we doing?
The DAILY HER-
ITAGE believes that this is
the time the generality of the
people should change their attitudes
towards anything that
affects human life however
safe some of us may be in the
midst of every crisis.
Our political leaders should
note that "minus God and the
Devil", they wield the greatest
power to change situations. In
Australia, the government has
declared a 14-day self-isolation,
in Austra, the government
has banned any
gathering beyond five (yes, 5)
people, sporting and other entertainment
activities are suspended
till further notice
elsewhere while schools are
closed, in Beijing there is
forced quarantine and the UK
is considering enacting a law to
make quarantine compulsory,
meaning such a law can be applicable
in other relevant situations.
When the DAILY HER-
ITAGE heard that our country
had followed suit in terms
of some of the cases, we
heaved a sigh of relief but said
that was not enough. We need
to lend support to whatever
the government was doing to
save lives. This is not the time
for unnecessary boycotts in
Parliament; this is the time for
laws to safeguard public interest.
This is also the time for all
sectors of the economy or the
society to seek public interest.
One of the simplest guidelines
to prevent Convid 19 is
to wash our hands regularly
with soap and running water.
Has the Ghana Water Company,
for instance, thought of
this to keep the taps running
instead of the present situation
where they turn off the
flow of water to places at will?
Everyone and every organisation
should be involved in
the fight against the coronavirus
because it affects society
in all its entirety.
Time to give back to society
BY PHILIP ANTOH
philip.antoh@dailyheritage.com.gh
THE CHIEF Executive Officer
of Marrer Ghana Limited and
Susatgad Boat Building and
Fishing Industries, Mr Novihoho
Afaglo, has called on
politicians, pastors and well-to-do Ghanaians
to give back to society in these trying times.
According to him, the continuous spread
of Covid-19 in Ghana will definitely call for
a total lockdown, which means the less privileged
in society will be disadvantaged.
Mr Afaglo said the time had come for
self-boasting men of God who claim of having
Ross Royce, Bentley, Bugatti and the
other expensive vehicles and imposing
houses to care for the less privileged church
members and support them with money
from what they had been offering all these
years.
He said politicians and pastors must give
back to society by identifying the people in
need in the churches and constituencies and
• Pastors and politicians told
•Mr Novihoho Afaglo, CEO of
Marrer Ghana Limited
support them with food items and some
stipends in this era of lockdown.
Mr Afaglo said per what was happening,
“there will be more confirmed cases in the
few days to come if there's no lockdown.”
He said in the beginning, “some of our
people took this whole outbreak as a joke but
the way things are going, a possible shutdown
for two weeks will help contain the
spread.”
The CEO said it was time the government
deploy the police and the military to go
out there to put the citizens in order.
"This was my main reason for kicking
against the building of the National Cathedral
because the resources to be used for that
could be channelled into the health sector.
"I personally asked some health professional
friends of mine to petition the President
to invest in hospitals instead of building
a cathedral but to no avail," he stated.
He therefore advised Ghanians to keep
safe in the wake of Covid-19 outbreak, and
that the only cure for the time being was to
self-quarantine because one can never be too
careful out there.
Background
Ghana’s Covid-19 cases have shot up to
132 as of Thursday, March 26, including
three deaths, the Disease Surveillance Unit
has announced.
Out of this, 54 cases were confirmed
from the regular surveillance systems while
the remaining 78 cases were confirmed from
travellers under mandatory quarantine.
The sudden spike in case incidence is as a
result of the mandatory quarantine and compulsory
testing for all travellers entering
Ghana, as directed by the President.
A great majority of the confirmed cases
are Ghanaians, who returned home from affected
countries.
Seven are of other nationalities, namely
Norway, Lebanon, China, Netherlands and
the United Kingdom (UK).
In respect of contact-tracing, a total of
970 contacts have been identified and are
being tracked, and out of this, 204 have completed
the 14-days mandatory follow-up.