As coronavirus infections soar in Nigeria and many parts of the world, political and health authorities are nearing their wits’ end over how to restore calm to the restive public, reports Associate Editor ADEKUNLE YUSUF
Despite efforts to contain it, coronavirus pandemic is still spreading like harmattan fire in many parts of the world. As its infections soar, the virus is also altering lives. Going by recent profiles of some of those infected, the raging virus is also not a respecter of persons.
In Nigeria, governments at all levels have devised social isolation measures. President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo were declared negative. They have since begun self-isolation. The President’s Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, however, was not so lucky. He tested positive for the disease which precipitated the need to test the duo and others in the Presidency.
Kyari tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday after he had travelled to Germany on March 7 to meet with officials of Siemens in Munich on the electricity expansion programme.
When he returned seven days later, he did not show any symptoms. But 24 hours later, he showed symptoms, following which he submitted himself for testing. Three among his aides were not spared either.
Fear has gripped high-profile Nigerians, especially governors and ministers as Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, tested positive for COVID-19. The panic among the governors and the ministers was understandable. After his return from foreign trips, Kyari attended the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting last Wednesday; while Mohammed was at the National Executive Council meeting last Thursday. After Nigeria recorded the first coronavirus case on February 27, Kyari visited Germany and Egypt.
To avert mass infection, the Federal Government has announced some measures aimed at controlling the coronavirus pandemic. The new measures, which were released by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, on border closures, a strong stay-away advice for residents of the administrative and commercial capitals and suspension of the weekly cabinet meeting.
All of Nigeria’s land borders, which have hitherto been under partial closure, have been closed for human traffic for four weeks effective 23rd March, 2020. All city dwellers haven strongly advised to stay at home, avoid mass congregation (including religious gatherings) of any kind as well as non-essential outings, until further advice is given.
The FEC meetings have been suspended until further notice, while the meeting of the Council of State scheduled for yesterday had been postponed. There is a ban on international travels – which is affecting travellers from 13 countries as a measure of controlling the coronavirus pandemic. The affected countries include China, the United States and the United Kingdom.
The Lagos State government has advised those who attended the African Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards to embark on self-isolation, suggesting a potential case of mass infection of coronavirus. A message posted on the state’s Twitter handle said a patient had attended the big entertainment event, which took place mid-March. The message gave guidelines to attendees to observe strict self-isolation and contact the authorities when they notice any symptoms.
“I hereby notify you that all participants at the African Magic Viewers’ Choice Award (AMVCA) held on 14th March at Eko Hotels may have come in contact with one of the confirmed cases in Lagos and are most likely to have been exposed to #COVID19 Infection.” The said hotel complex on Monday announced a partial closure which it called a scaling down of operations to minimise coronavirus risk.
Like Lagos, virtually all the states have placed restriction on social gatherings, closed schools and other avenues that allow mass gatherings. With these measures, Nigeria has joined a number of African countries who have announced travel bans on countries with high coronavirus cases. Some countries have used reported cases to activate the bans.
Ghana, for example, insists that travellers from countries with 100 or more cases will be refused entry. So far, Nigeria has 46 confirmed cases, two of which have been discharged after recovery. The index patient, an Italian, is one of them.
Read Also: COVID-19: Buhari, Osinbajo lead adherence to self-Isolation
In the United States, $2 trillion stimulus bill is underway, as a deal has been reached by the White House and Senate leaders after tense negotiations. The deal will provide the much-needed help to Americans, as most people will get their full or nearly full salaries or can be furloughed.
Key points of the bill included $130 billion for hospitals, nursing homes, community health centers and other similar facilities, to help with the shortage of ventilators and equipment. The fund will help to provide equipment and supplies for hospitals and healthcare facilities during the coronavirus pandemic.
This “worker-friendly” deal will also assist people who are out of work to apply quickly for employment insurance or be furloughed. There are $150 billion in assistance for state and local governments as well as interest-free loans for small businesses.
President Donald Trump has approved an urgent request for a major disaster declaration for the state of Louisiana, which grants the state access to federal aid as it combats the spread of Covid-19. Louisiana became the fourth state for whom President Trump approved a major disaster declaration after state leaders asked the federal government to access extra resources to tackle the pandemic.
With more than 25,000 positive tests and 210 deaths, New York has become the epicenter of coronavirus cases in the US. Numbers in other states also have been skyrocketing.
Louisiana, which reported no cases until mid-March, topped the 1,000 mark and the state has seen more than 500 new cases reported since the weekend, with 1,388 cases and 46 deaths by Tuesday afternoon. New Jersey added more than 800 cases from Monday to Tuesday, for a total of 3,675 positive tests and 44 deaths.
That makes New Jersey the second-highest state case total in the nation. Last week alone, New Jersey cases increased tenfold. Many states are under a stay-at-home order, as more than 52,000 coronavirus cases were reported in the country, with nearly half in New York. At least, 701 people have died.
In the United Kingdom, Prince Charles has tested positive to the virus – though he continues to work after his coronavirus diagnosis. He was tested on Monday and got results on Tuesday. He is self-isolating at the Birkhall estate in Scotland, with a small number of staff keeping separate from him; while his wife, Camilla the Duchess of Cornwall, is self-isolating separately.
In Saudi Arabia, stringent measures haven put in place in order to curtail the spread of the virus, as inter-city travels between Riyadh, Medina and Mecca have been suspended and curfews tightened in the cities to start at 3 p.m. On Monday, Saudi authorities imposed a curfew across the country starting at 7 p.m. local time until 6 a.m.
for 21 days to curb the spread of the coronavirus. The tighter curfew came a day ahead of a virtual G20 leader’s summit, which will be chaired by Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz “to advance a coordinated global response to the Covid-19 pandemic and its human and economic implications.”
In Italy, life is bleak with over 74,386 coronavirus cases and over 7500 deaths. Although over 9,000 people have recovered, the country still battles with more than 57,000 active cases, making the epicentre of the pandemic in Europe.
Italy has placed more than 16 million people under quarantine as it battles to contain the spread of coronavirus. Anyone living in Lombardy and 14 other central and northern provinces will need special permission to travel. Milan and Venice are both affected. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte also announced the closure of schools, gyms, museums, nightclubs and other venues across the whole country.
The measures, the most radical taken outside China, will last until April 3. Italy has seen the largest number of coronavirus infections in Europe, with the number of confirmed cases jumping by the day.
The strict new quarantine measures affect a quarter of the Italian population and centre on the rich northern part of the country that powers its economy.
The health system is under immense strain in Lombardy, a northern region of 10 million people, where people are being treated in hospital corridors. Under the new measures, people are not supposed to be able to enter or leave Lombardy, where Milan is the main city.
The same restrictions apply to 14 provinces: Modena, Parma, Piacenza, Reggio Emilia, Rimini, Pesaro and Urbino, Alessandria, Asti, Novara, Verbano Cusio Ossola, Vercelli, Padua, Treviso and Venice. It’s believed the virus was circulating in Italy for weeks before it was detected.
And there have been cases in all regions of the country, forcing the government to take the most extensive containment measures outside of China. However, a slowdown in the rate of new infections has raised hopes in Italy that the peak of its outbreak could be within sight.
In Spain, coronavirus death toll has overtaken China’s, climbing to 3,434. After more than a week of lockdown in Spain, another 738 people died over 24 hours. Healthcare workers account for nearly 14 per cent of the country’s 47,610 cases. Amid reports of overwhelmed emergency wards, doctors and nurses have complained of a lack of basic protective equipment that has forced them to ration crucial supplies and craft protective shields out of plastic bags.
Indians are struggling to comply with the world’s largest lockdown after the prime minister, Narendra Modi, instructed the country’s 1.3 billion people to stay at home for the next three weeks. Modi warned citizens that if they did not act now, the virus could overwhelm the fragile healthcare system and set the country back decades.
Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, had said that social distancing measures and a crackdown on travel would be introduced in in a country with over 2,000 lives have been claimed by the coronavirus. There is seemingly little consensus as to how long these lockdowns could last.
The French government’s scientific advisers have recommended six weeks, while the Spanish government is expected to seek parliamentary approval to extend the country’s 15-day near-total lockdown to 11 April.
Also, Germany and France have faced criticisms over export bans on products such as masks and goggles. The European Union is expected to sign off on a “more ambitious and wide-ranging crisis management system” that will include a plea for the lifting of such bans. Officials in Spanish regions such as Madrid and Catalonia initially dealt with a shortage of testing resources by asking people with mild symptoms to simply self-isolate.
Around the world, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases has climbed to more than 423,000. The accelerating pandemic – it took 67 days to reach the first 100,000 cases and four days to hit the latest 100,000, according to the WHO – has led to an estimated 1.7 billion people being ordered to remain at home worldwide.
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