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Opinions of Thursday, 2 April 2020

Columnist: Mubarik Siddique

The Upper West Region is not an Island

Mubarik Siddique Mubarik Siddique

Coronavirus has already been declared a pandemic by WHO.

This means it has become a global disease and not only within the confines of a particular jurisdiction.

My attention have been drawn to a widespread condemnation and to a large extend curses on the suspected covid-19 patient recorded in the upper west region.

When a pandemic is declared it is only natural people will panic and run dearly for their lives.They run from epicenters to less affected areas and sometimes from less affected areas to the epicenters,thanks to confusion which is precipitated by panic.

In Ghana we say _’confusion ay3 basaa’, my people will say saaju kuuri bin3 waana ....._

It will therefore beat any body’s imagination why one will want to curse the other for trying hard to run for his/her life.

With hindsight,he shouldn’t have traveled under the circumstance,nonetheless does he deserve a curse or even a rebuke ???.

How will we even know he is the first asymptomatic patient in the region ??

Studies have suggested that people could potentially be infectious without knowing they are carrying the virus.

Let’s be a little emotionally intelligent and desist from cursing anybody who might have contracted the disease.

The last thing one will want to do is to curse someone who have contracted a disease that have been declared a pandemic.

This person travel history indicates he didn’t travel through banana republics but he traveled through civilized countries with high prevalence rate yet couldn’t have been detected of the virus.

It is not funny to see people busing to escape to areas with zero or less confirmed cases,aftermath of the President address.Some of these people could be high risk persons.

There have been very reliable reports of Ghanaians abroad sneaking into the country from neighboring countries Togo to the east,Burkina Faso to the north and Ivory Coast to the west through our porous borders.

Some of these persons are actually coming from high risk countries like Italy and Spain.

As it stands now,there are all indications infectious rate could increase in the less or zero recorded areas in the coming days.

We have ignored the education minister’s advice *’’If you stay, the virus stays.If you move,the virus moves ‘’.* Ghana have moved already with the virus,let’s pray and make Dua.

Instead of the negative energy exerted on this poor person running from an epicenter to a safe haven,we should rather exert positive energy by educating the inhabitants of the region about the protocols outlined by WHO.

The radio stations,Imams and social media commentators should vigorously intensify the awareness campaign in the region.

Remember the common enemy is the virus !!!