Fear isn't the best mechanism to fight coronavirus - Dr. Okoe-Boye

Deputy Minister of Health, Dr. Bernard Okoe-Boye says fear is not the best tactics to urge Ghanaians to abide by the health protocols regarding the Coronavirus disease.

Speaking on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo' programme on Friday, the Deputy Health Minister noted that creating fear and panic would potentially worsen the situation, explaining such mechanism could compel people who get infected by the disease to refuse to go to the hospitals for testing or to health Professionals for medical advice.

To him, fear could further result in anxiety and so doesn't believe in fearmongering as a strategy to curb the spread of the disease.

"Because life is a balance of risk, you don't want to put people in exacerbated risk whilst you keep them away from a particular risk," he said.

COVID-19 Very Contagious, But Malaria More Deadly

Dr. Okoe Boye also added that the Coronavirus is not a deadly disease as Malaria.

"Malaria, in quote, is more fatal than COVID-19, but COVID-19 is more contagious," he said in an attempt to drive away fears and to encourage infected persons to boldly consult with Health Professionals to get them isolated for treatment.

According to him, the increasing case count of COVID-19 in the country shouldn't create despair.

"When you screen thousand people in Ghana who have come into contact or are at risk or working at the hospital, the infection rate in Ghana now is three. What it means is that when you screen 1,000 people, you get 30 individuals who can have COVID-19 and out of the 30, about 1 or 2 are those who fall ill," he explained

Despite the hope of survival from the pandemic, Dr. Okoe Boye advised Ghanaians to protect themselves against the contracting the disease by adhering to the preventive measures outlined by the Health Professionals.