The Central Regional Environmental Health Office has cautioned families who lose their relatives to cholera to bury them immediately to protect the community. 

The office cautioned that the bodies of cholera casualties were highly infectious and could lead to an epidemic if not handled properly.  

Mr Emmanuel Owusu Ashia, a Regional Environmental Health Officer in charge of Hygiene Promotion, entreated families to collaborate with environmental health officers to bury the deceased without delay.  

“When somebody dies of cholera, we shouldn’t wait for one or two weeks. They must be buried quickly.  

“When a family loses a relative through cholera, they should contact the environmental health division to help them with the disinfection of the body before burial. That is done to prevent the rest of the family from contracting the disease,” he said.   

Mr Ashia issued the caution when he facilitated a training session on risk communication for some 30 health officers in the Cape Coast Metropolis in the wake of the cholera outbreak.  

The training was organised by the Cape Coast Metropolitan Health Directorate as part of practical measures to combat the cholera outbreak.  

Cape Coast has so far recorded six confirmed cases and two suspected cases of cholera, all of which are being managed by the Cape Coast Metro Hospital.  

Mr Ashia warned that cholera was very deadly and entreated the public to practice frequent handwashing and consume only treated water to prevent the disease.  

For his part, Mr Samuel Kwabena Ofosu, the Cape Coast Metro Director of Health Services, clarified that nobody had died of cholera in Cape Coast yet as speculated by a section of the media.  

He said the test results of a person who showed symptoms of cholera and later died came out negative.  

Mr Ofosu gave assurance of the commitment of the Directorate to fight the outbreak head-on, explaining the essence of the workshop.  

He announced that five different teams had been constituted and deployed to various areas to educate and sensitise the people, carry out disinfections in communities where cases had been recorded and undertake contact tracing.  

“Because of our history with cholera outbreak within the Metropolis, we don’t want to take any chance. We want to as soon as possible, control the disease so that it doesn’t travel beyond our capacity,” he added.