Despite efforts to manage the coronavirus pandemic, it still constitutes a huge threat to public health and economy in many countries, reports Associate Editor ADEKUNLE YUSUF
SINCE Nigeria recorded its first confirmed case of coronavirus last month, political and health authorities have continued to work round the clock to prevent a mass outbreak, which can overwhelm the country’s already fragile health infrastructure. The novel virus sneaked into Nigeria’s shores when an Italian man visited Lafarge Cement Company as a consultant, testing positive to coronavirus and became the country’s index case.
Announcing the bad news on February 27, the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof Akin Abayomi, confirmed that COVID-19 has entered the country. The announcement made Nigeria the third African country to record a COVID-19 case. The Italian, who entered Nigeria on February 25 from Italy for a brief business visit and fell ill afterwards, was subsequently transferred to the Lagos State Biosecurity facility for isolation and testing on February 26.
Since the COVID-19 case was confirmed last month, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has consistently allayed fears of residents over the spread of the virus, saying Lagosians have no reason to panic. The federal health authorities have also consistently assured that adequate measures are in place to tackle the situation.
“We are going to stop the opportunity for the virus to enter our community. That is what the government is doing,” Abayomi has consistently said in his daily briefings to update the public on the state of affairs concerning the management of the index case. “The coronavirus that is ravaging the world today is not a death sentence as long as detected cases are reported early, the patient isolated and the contacts traced and quarantined until tests are carried out to determine their status. The WHO has also indicated that some individuals who had been infected with coronaviruas only suffered mild illness and recovered while the infection was severe in other persons,” he said.
Nigeria has since recorded a second coronavirus case, a Nigerian. Yesterday, the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, said the Italian would be discharged soon. He disclosed this in Abuja during a conference with the diplomatic community about measures taken by the Federal Government to tackle the spread of Covid-19 in Nigeria.
Ehanire stressed that there were only two confirmed cases in Nigeria. This, according to him, included the index case and the second who was a primary contact of the index case.
While Nigeria is lucky not to have suffered a massive outbreak of the virus, many countries are still reeling under the pangs of the pandemic, throwing their health infrastructure into turmoil. The 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), named as Covid-19 by the WHO, has spread to 113 more countries apart from China.
This prompted the WHO to declare the disease a global pandemic. As at the time of filing this report, confirmed novel coronavirus cases are more than 130,000, while more than 4,700 deaths have been reported across the world, with more than one-third of the Covid-19 cases outside China where the disease started last December. No fewer than 68,891 people have recovered from the virus across the globe.
In Africa, authorities implement measures to contain the spread of the virus, especially on the continent. Almost all African governments have publicly put in place strict screening at points of entry especially airports. Cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, Senegal and Nigeria. African airlines have cancelled scheduled flights to China except for Ethiopian Airlines. The Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune ordered schools and universities to close until April 5 to slow the spread of the coronavirus. This came as a response to the country’s first registered death from the disease. Algeria has confirmed 24 cases of coronavirus, mostly among members of a single family in the city of Blida, south of the capital.
The government has already ordered a range of measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus, including a ban on spectators at football games and the suspension of all cultural, social and political gatherings. The authorities have not clarified, however, whether the ban extends to weekly mass protests that have convulsed Algeria for more than a year, thrusting its long-established political class into crisis. Political turmoil and economic troubles also threaten hydrocarbon producer Algeria as it wrestles with the coronavirus. A crash in global oil prices has compounded years of declining energy revenues that have drained half of Algeria’s state currency reserves.
Uganda, earlier this week, returned some travellers who refused to be quarantined upon arrival in the country. In Senegal, the infectious diseases outfit, Institute Pasteur de Dakar, is set to roll out a coronavirus testing kit. Its head, Dr Amaduo Sall, said the infrastructure to build the kits will be ready in two weeks’ time. The kit, when released, will be a game changer in diagnosing persons with the deadly disease. Senegal currently has seven confirmed cases of the coronavirus.
Authorities in South Africa have recorded four new cases, bringing the total tally as at March 12 to 17. The new cases span various provinces: Free State, Kwa Zulu Natal, Guateng and Mpumalanga. In the case of the Free State patient, the disease control outfit said a 32-year-old male, who came into contact with a Chinese businessman, was the first case of local transmission as all others have been by patients who had travelled abroad. Meanwhile, a government evacuation of citizens from Wuhan is underway with the special evacuation team heading back to South Africa with 122 people who voluntarily opted to.
In Ghana, $100 million fund was announced by the government to combat the coronavirus outbreak. Ghana is surrounded by neighbours all of whom have recorded cases. Togo was the first to record a case last week while Burkina Faso earlier this week recorded two. Ivory Coast also recorded a case in the capital Abidjan. Togo is Ghana’s eastern neighbour, Burkina Faso is to the north and Ivory Coast to the West. To the south, the country is bordered by the Gulf of Guinea. Ivory Coast has recorded its index case of coronavirus, making the country the fifth in the region to record a case after Nigeria, Senegal, Togo and Burkina Faso. Elsewhere on the continent, Cameroon, DR Congo and South Africa have recorded cases. Back in January, Ivory Coast was the first country to record a suspected case, which turned out negative. The country, like many others, received testing capacity from WHO.
Ugandan authorities have announced new measures as part of processes to keep out the coronavirus. Travelers arriving in Uganda will soon be sprayed with a disinfectant – head to toe. All travellers arriving from 16 high-risk countries will be quarantined for 14 days – a measure the aimed at preventing the importation of the virus. With this measure, Uganda has joined DRC on the list of countries enforcing quarantine for certain category of travellers. Eritrea has also announced that similar measures.
Coronavirus case numbers in Malaysia and Singapore remain by a distance the highest in south-east Asia, at 149 and 178, respectively, as of Wednesday. On Thursday, Malaysia’s Health Ministry urged the postponement of all mass gatherings after it emerged that an estimated 5,000-10,000 people met at an Islamic ceremony in Kuala Lumpur in late February that was also attended by a Bruneian who subsequently tested positive for the virus. Thailand has reported 70 cases of the new coronavirus infection. Of the 70 cases, 35 people have been already discharged while 34 others are receiving treatment in hospital, according to information provided by the Public Health Ministry on Thursday.
United States President Donald Trump has since suspended all travels from Europe over fears of escalation of the disease. On Wednesday, he blamed the European Union for his decision to suspend all travels from Europe to the US over the Coronavirus pandemic. In a televised address at the White House, Trump alleged that the EU failed to take necessary steps to prevent the virus from entering its territory. As a result, he said, a large number of new cases in the US were by travellers from Europe. He said the new rules, aimed at keeping new cases from entering the country, would last for 30 days with effect from Friday. However, he said the restrictions would not apply to the United Kingdom, which had 460 confirmed cases of the virus. No fewer than 1,135 confirmed cases of the virus and 38 deaths in the U.S. as of Wednesday.
“At the very start of the outbreak, we instituted sweeping travel restrictions on China and put in place the first federally mandated quarantine in over 50 years. We declared a public health emergency and issued the highest level of travel warning on other countries as the virus spread its horrible infection. We have seen dramatic fewer cases of the virus in the United States than are now present in Europe. The European Union failed to take the same precautions and restrict travels from China and other hotspots. As a result, a large number of new clusters in the United States were ceded by travelers from Europe,” Trump said.
He added that the travel suspension would also “apply to the tremendous amount of trade and cargo” coming into the US from Europe. The rules, he said, “will be adjusted, subject to conditions on the ground, and there will be exemptions for Americans who have undergone appropriate screenings”.
Trump also announced plans to provide working Americans affected by the virus with financial relief to enable them to stay at home without fear of financial hardship.
“This will be targeted for workers who are ill, quarantined, or caring for others due to coronavirus. I will be asking Congress to take legislative action to extend this relief,” he said.
As global stock markets plummet and movement of goods and services curtailed, travel restrictions will continue to take a toll on the global economy.
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