Multimedia Group’s Gary Al-Smith tests positive for covid-19

Gary Al-Smith, a respected sports journalist, with the Multimedia Group, has contracted coronavirus.

Gary took to Facebook to announce his status, pledging to be an ambassador against stigmatisation, which is spreading faster in Ghana than the disease.

He is the first Ghanaian journalist to openly declare his status, although there are reports that some members of the Parliamentary Press Corps have tested positive for the contagion.

The broadcast journalist’s post comes on the heels of an announcement by the Multimedia Group that five of its staff have tested positive for COVID-19, which has infected almost 13,000 people in Ghana, with 66 deaths.

Five staff of Multimedia Group test positive for Covid-19

Minutes after the company released a statement, Gary posted on social media that he was among employees of the company who had tested positive for the disease.

“As per this statement, Multimedia has recorded five cases of COVID-19.I’m one of the five. After consultation with my family, we have decided that from tonight, I’ll be speaking on radio and TV about my experience.

Gary on live at UGMC

To show he was hail and hearty, Gary appeared on Joy News Prime Time News to present the sports segment at 7.50 pm.

“I am doing great and the care has been fantastic,” he said from the University of Ghana Medical Centre, where he is being monitored, alongside four others.

Life of the stigmatised

Ever since the country discharged its first set of recovered patients, they have shared harrowing experiences of how relatives, friends and neighbours shun them.

A once-booming business, shops and restaurants of coronavirus recovered patients remain closed as their clients refuse to patronise their wares.

It is for those reasons and others that the government, in April, announced that it would not reveal the locations of its isolation centres.

Ghana may be able to survive the deadly COVID-19 pandemic, but one thing that may linger on for a long time; the stigma that comes with the pandemic.

Recovered patients 

Recovered patients, their families and friends have raised concerns about the stigma that comes with being an infected person or a relative of an infected person.

Fred Kwaku Drah, a recovered COVID-19 patient in April shared a painful experience of having to face stigmatisation from his community to the extent that his barber took to his heels when he visited the salon for a haircut.

Rallying support for recovered patients, Mr Drah advised that Ghanaians should desist from stigmatising COVID-19 survivors and also adhere to the preventive measures directed by the Health Ministry.

COVID-19 Stigma: Recovered patient relives his journey in quarantine and road to recovery