Even as the glob­al num­ber of con­firmed cas­es of COVID-19 sur­passed 100,000 this week­end, Ma­jor Rod­ney Brown of the T&T Cadet Force be­lieves there is no need for pan­ic.

Speak­ing at the T&T Cadet Force (TTCF) pro­ces­sion of colours held at the St Paul’s An­gli­can Church on Sun­day, Brown said while it was nec­es­sary to take pre­cau­tions to pre­vent the spread of the virus, cit­i­zens should not see it as the biggest prob­lem fac­ing hu­man­i­ty.

“Let us take ur­gent steps and all the nec­es­sary pre­cau­tions. Let us have an ac­tion plan but there is no need for the over hype and world­wide pan­ic,” Brown said.

He added, “Yes, over 100,000 peo­ple have been in­fect­ed by the virus and 3,000 have died main­ly peo­ple over 60 with a pre-ex­ist­ing con­di­tion.”

Say­ing the like­li­hood of a healthy per­son dy­ing from the virus was un­der one per cent, Brown said this was about the same chance one had of win­ning the lot­tery.

Brown al­so said any­one who was sick should stay out of the work­place.

“I don’t think any­one will de­ny you leave if you are sick, es­pe­cial­ly around this time so if you are sick avoid con­tact with peo­ple,” he added.

Brown al­so said that the COVID-19 was not the great­est af­flic­tion of mankind.

“Wor­ry about coro­na if you will but I am here to tell you that you have a lot more to wor­ry about in the fu­ture and this is be­cause of sin. That is the dead­liest threat fac­ing all of hu­man­i­ty,” Brown added.

He again warned cit­i­zens to wash their hands of­ten, use al­co­hol-based san­i­tiz­ers, cov­er their mouths and noses when sneez­ing, avoid touch­ing eyes, nose and mouth, keep away from peo­ple who cough and sneeze and stay away from the pub­lic if they get any flu-like symp­toms.

He al­so urged cadets to be wary of sex­u­al promis­cu­ity. Say­ing sex­u­al mis­con­duct was preva­lent in schools, Brown said it was now creep­ing in­to the Cadet Force.

He called on the cadets to stay away from for­ni­ca­tion and any type of sex­u­al mis­con­duct.