Covid-19: Doubting Recoveries Could Fuel Stigmatisation – Hadzide

A Deputy Minister for Information, Pius Enam Hadzide is urging Ghanaians to desist from doubt the rise in the number of COVID-19 recoveries announced by the Ghana Health Service (GHS).

Speaking at the Ministry’s Press Conference on Tuesday, he said casting doubts about the numbers only fuel stigmatization against victims who have been treated and discharged.

“We are concerned that insinuations that casts doubt on the veracity of recoveries declared by the Ghana Health Service and now a suggestion for strict proof of the recoveries can worsen the already dire problem of stigmatization of persons who have recovered,” he said.

He said Ghanaians must welcome persons who have recovered from COVID-19 and accord them the needed support to easily reintegrate into their communities.

“We admonish fellow countrymen and women to gladly welcome our compatriots who were once infected and tested positive but have gone through the process of receiving care and have now consecutively tested negative back into our various communities as fully recovered persons who pose no threat to us,” he added.

According to the Ghana Health Services’ update of Tuesday, May 19, 2020, 1,754 people have fully recovered from COVID-19 in Ghana.

Following news of over 900 victims recovering from COVID-19 in Ghana last week, some persons have raised questions about the possibility of such a high number of people recovering at the same time, with some describing the development as untrue.

But Mr. Hazide noted that “you would recall that officials of the Ghana Health Service and the Hon Minister for Information have repeated time without number at our press briefings that the Ghana protocol for declaring COVID-19 infected persons as recovered involves obtaining two straight negative results and that many persons who had been infected were awaiting their second tests and once those tests results came back negative, those persons would be declared recovered. It had abundantly been made clear that recovery was a process and not an event and does not occur overnight”.

Ghana's case count for the COVID-19 now [May 19, 2020] stands at 5,918 with 31 deaths.

---citinewsroom