MONROVIA, Montserrado – House Speaker Bhofal Chambers is calling on citizens to adapt and follow health measures announced by the government in order to end the Coronavirus pandemic.

In a recent conversation with reporters at the Capitol Building, Speaker Chambers encouraged citizens to unite and hold together against the pandemic and allowed trained health professionals to function effectively to end the transmission.

He cautioned citizens to rely on information provided by health authorities, through professionals and individuals trained in infectious disease, instead of consuming misinformation and ill-advised measures prescribed by non-health practitioners.

“Though there will be people who will come and want to sanitize, but they are not professionally trained to do so,” he said. “We can’t allow people to put themselves in harm’s way as we go through this exercise of combating COVID-19.”

Although several organizations and political groups were now carrying out awareness, Chambers suggested that certified health professionals should be allowed to provide awareness messages to the public, noting that misinformation could endanger lives and threaten public safety.

He called for a cohesive message to be provided to the public: “It’s time that we seek social cohesion and unite in fighting this plague in our country. We should pay attention to our families, the elderly, and be law abiding.”

He also expressed his concern for the number of individuals succumbing to the Coronavirus and prayed that the crisis does not affect the country’s growth and development.

Commenting on the president’s state of emergency, the speaker sided with the president on his decision for the additional measures to end the pandemic within Liberia.

“We must work together so that the best interest of the people is addressed while we evaluate, identify and look at the cost, which will always be for the sake of the people,” he said.

He urged his colleagues in the legislature to work constructively with the executive in providing a robust national leadership to fight the disease.

“This is a call for everybody to be on deck and to do what God has blessed us with in the application of proper use of that wisdom. It is a collective endeavor to save this nation as the media and public servants,” he noted.

“We cannot deprive our people of their livelihood or daily necessities. We are at a critical junction and need to rid this country of COVID-19.”

The speaker, however, outlined that despite the new measures announced by the president, the welfare of every citizen must remain at the forefront.

Featured photo by Zeze Ballah