The coronavirus pandemic has claimed 62 Ghanaians in the diaspora according to a DNT count in a report submitted by Germany correspondent Ben Okrah. The same tabulation interestingly revealed only 69 confirmed cases in the diaspora community suggesting a tendency for infected Ghanaians to hide their positive COVID-19 status.
According to the report, the country having the most Ghanaian community casualties is the United Kingdom with 30 followed by France with 16. United States, despite leading the world by far in coronavirus deaths, comes in third with ten Ghanaian casualties followed by Germany (3), Italy (2), and Belgium with one.
So far only seven non-fatal confirmed cases are recorded although it is widely believed that many more exist but are hidden from their communities. Of those, five are in the United Kingdom, one in Germany, and one in Denmark.
The count from the UK was submitted by Lawyer Georgette Djaba during a worldwide conference call last Saturday which was organized by The Ghanaian community in Germany. Djaba reported that many of the casualties from the UK includes frontline workers such as nurses, doctors, and other healthcare staff.
The Casualties in France, on the other hand comprised mostly taxi drivers within the Paris area. All ten fatalities from the United States occurred in the New York area. The sole Belgium fatality was a twelve-year-old, and the three in Germany were mostly people who died at home from refusing to go to a hospital.
The conference call featured several medical experts including Dr. Bertha Serwa Ayi, Dr. Arthur Kennedy, Dr. Pearl Quartey, and Dr. Felix Yamoah. They all advised people to seek help and not try to hide their positive COVID-19 status.
The conferees spent considerable time to discuss fundraising efforts around the globe by Ghanaians. They also discouraged misinformation that have exploded on social media platforms with one attributing the cause of coronavirus to the new 5G network. But Deputy Director General of National Communication Authority, Prince Serfah debunked the myth pointing out that many countries that have cases of coronavirus have do not have the 5G network.
The next conference call is Scheduled for May 9.
DNT News – Germany
