By Lawal Ogienagbon
CORONA is the most popular word in the world today. By the time you say corona, others will complete it by adding virus.
Coronavirus hit the world like a bolt out of the blue in December 2019 when it started ravaging Wuhan in the Hubei Province of China.
It is a novel virus which type had never been seen until now. It is in the family of coronaviruses of which the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus (SARS-Cor) and the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus (MERS-Cor) are members.
SARS-Cor and MERS-Cor hit the world in 2002 and 2012. The novel Coronavirus or COVID-19 has thrown the globe into a frenzy because it has no cure.
The medical world is battling to find a cure for it. Though some vaccines are said to have been developed and tested on animals, they cannot be immediately applied on humans because certain scientific protocol must first be observed. Our own Prof Maurice Iwu, of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) fame, claims to have found a cure for it.
The United States (US) which has lost nine of its citizens, as at Tuesday night, to the deadly virus has challenged its pharmacists to find a cure for the virus.
Being one of the developed nations at the receiving end of the virus, the US will certainly stop at nothing until it finds a cure for the disease.
China too is not resting on its oars. Apparently shocked that the virus originated from its soil, the communist nation has done all it can to contain the scourge. It built two hospitals with space for 1000 beds and 30 intensive care wards within 10 days for those infected.
For now, patients are being managed with anti-malarial drugs and those with strong immune systems are known to have survived because their ailment was detected early.
Those with weak immune systems or whose illness was not discovered early have died. The statistics is alarming for an epidemic which hit the world only three months ago.
As at Tuesday night, the figures were 92,835 reported cases worldwide with 3,168 deaths and 48,469 said to have recovered. Between then and now, the statistics is bound to have risen.
How did China come about the virus? Nobody knows. There are speculations that it was first discovered among animals in a forest in Wuhan.
Some Nigerians living in the city have been calling on their home government to bring them back home for fear of contracting the disease. The government has sent them money for their upkeep pending when the Coronavirus storm blows over.
Meanwhile, the virus has landed in Nigeria, courtesy of an Italian who came in from Milan last week. The Italian has been quarantined at the Infectious Diseases Hospital (IDH) in Yaba, Lagos.
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He is said to be responding to treatment. The problem now is in tracing his fellow passengers in the plane that brought him to the country on February 25.
No fewer than 158 passengers on the Turkish Airlines flight are said to be at large. Some of them are said to have gone back to Europe or travelled to other states. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has joined in the search for them.
There is anxiety over their whereabouts because some of them may be carrying the virus without knowing and mingling with people in that condition increases the risk of spreading the disease, thereby compounding its early containment.
The earlier these people are located and quarantined the better for the public. As long as they cannot be located, the chances of containing the disease become slimmer by the day.
There seems to be nothing to fear about the virus in Nigeria as the authority has put in place measures to prevent its spread.
Emergencies test the best of governments and this is an emergency in which the government has done well so far. But it must not wait for emergencies to arise before it provides basic health and related facilities for the people.
To show how serious the COVID-19 threat is, the man in charge of keeping diseases at bay here is himself in isolation for public safety.
Chikwe Ihekweazu, Director-General of Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, according to Health Minister Dr Osagie Ehanire, went on self isolation in line with standard practice after his return from China.
Ihekweazu had gone to China as part of the WHO Mission on COVID-19. A Nigerian footballer in Italy is also in quarantine after testing positive for the virus, which is no respecter of status, age or nationality.
Top government officials, including a vice president, and some footballers, among others have fallen victim of the epidemic. Some matches have been postponed in the Italian league because of the virus.
Iran’s Vice President Masoumeh Ebtekar has been isolated at home because of the virus. For the WHO, COVID-19 is a global menace and everything must be done to contain it before it starts ‘’spreading freely in communities’’.
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