Pay attention to children in wake of COVID-19; Asantehene admonishes parents

The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, has admonished parents to pay particular attention to their children by ensuring that the children stayed at home and not allowed to roam during the school break necessitated by the COVID-19.

He said actions by many people showed that the country was yet to grasp the seriousness of the pandemic, as they did not attach much seriousness to the measures outlined by the government to help curb the spread of the disease.

The Asantehene was particularly surprised “to see a number of schoolchildren who have been asked to stay at home to protect them from contracting the virus rather roaming the streets”.

He made the appeal in a message read on his behalf by the Omanhene of the Bompata Traditional Area, Nana Effah

Apenteng, in Kumasi last Friday when the Minister of Information, Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, visited Manhyia to brief the Asantehene on the precautionary measures put in place to avert the spread of the disease in the country.

Collective efforts

Otumfuo Osei Tutu said the world was not in normal times, and that there was the need for collective efforts by all to combat the pandemic.

He said Africa should not allow the situation to reach the levels it reached in Europe and Asia because “no African country can contain the consequences”.

“In fact, the loads of traffic in Kumasi suggest to me that we have not grasped the full gravity of the crisis and are assuming we can continue to go about our business as usual.

“Our health service will be overrun, hundreds of our loved ones will die and our entire economy will collapse, and with other nations already on their knees, there will be no one to turn to to bail us out,” he said.

He further reminded the people to take the warnings seriously because “It is a matter of life and death”.

He tasked traditional rulers within Asanteman to let their relevance be felt during these trying moments by placing themselves and the authority of their office at the behest of the sovereign state.

The Asantehene said Nananom must stand shoulder to shoulder with all the agencies of state in the defence of the country and the protection of the health of the people in the war against the COVID-19.

Information Minister

Mr Oppong Nkrumah expressed satisfaction with the measures put in place at the palace to curb the spread of the disease, saying it was heartwarming that Manhyia was showing leadership in not only “preaching preventive etiquettes but also actually practising it”.

For his part, the Kumasi Metropolitan Chief Executive, Mr Osei Assibey Antwi, urged residents to remain calm as the city recorded the first Covid-19 fatality in the country.

Health officials confirmed last Saturday that the 54-year-old Lebanese who had tested positive for the disease at the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research for Infectious Diseases had died.

Two other confirmed cases were recorded in the city.

The announcement of the death of the Lebanese appeared to have created anxiety within the metropolis.