Corona Virus Alert: Is Nigeria Ready whilst in Rat Race?

As the country currently battles Lassa Fever caused by rats, the deadly coronavirus which is spreading worldwide has got Nigerians wondering if the government is ready should the new illness hit Nigeria.

195 confirmed cases of Lassa Fever and 29 deaths had been reported in 11 states according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). Nigeria declared an outbreak of Lassa fever a year ago and around 170 people died from the virus in 2019.

With the Coronavirus spreading fast, the House of Representatives has called on the Federal Government to declare a public health emergency in the country.

The lawmakers who made the call on Wednesday during plenary at the House chamber of the National Assembly in Abuja noted that although the virus has not been reported in Nigeria, the government must take preventive measures to ensure that the virus does not make its way into the country.

Meanwhile, The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, (FCCPC) on Wednesday morning shut down the popular Panda Supermarket in Jabi, Abuja operated by Chinese nationals following a tip-off that illegally imported seafood from China had been delivered in the stores.

In a tweet from the FCCPC Twitter handle, the agency revealed the store had products with expired & irregular shelf lives assuring that Regulatory activities to remove all offensive products from the Supermarket continue.

To allay fears, the Federal Government has assured of its readiness to strengthen surveillance at five international airports in the country to prevent the spread of Coronavirus.

The five international airports are in Enugu, Lagos, Rivers, Kano, and the FCT.

The Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire said the government would also set up an inter-sectoral committee to scale up surveillance to detect suspicious cases and ensure containment.

Ehanire says

“The committee shall comprise of critical stakeholders in the health, security, aviation and transport sectors and also include development partners, bearing in mind that air travellers are more likely carriers of the virus”.

Ehanire, therefore, urged airlines to comply with protocol on any passenger who took ill or looked ill on board to be reported by authorities.

He also urged airlines and the public to call stipulated lines at the airports’ entries to share any information on the virus and gave the telephone numbers as 09092996283; 08095553232.

The health minister also revealed the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) had set up the coronavirus group and was ready to activate its incident system for coronavirus if any case emerged in Nigeria.

The Director, Prevention and Programme Coordination, NCDC Joshua Obasanya said that the center had been collaborating with Chinese authority in Nigeria to ensure that citizens that traveled for holiday to that country delay their coming.

 

Corona Virus in Africa

Ivory Coast on Monday became the first African country to test a suspected Coronavirus case when a female student arrived at an airport in the capital with suspicious symptoms.

Ivorian authorities said the 34-year-old student travelled from Beijing to the Félix-ouphouët-Boigny International Airport in Abidjan on Saturday and was coughing, sneezing and experienced difficulty breathing.

A Kenya Airways passenger who arrived in Nairobi on Tuesday (Jan.28) afternoon on a flight from Guangzhou displaying flu-like symptoms is the first suspected case of the Wuhan originating coronavirus in East Africa.

The patient is currently being quarantined at Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi. Kenyan port authorities began increasing surveillance at all ports of entry and measuring passenger body temperatures as early as last week.

Ethiopia, a country with increasingly close ties to China, is also screening flights from countries with proven cases of coronavirus contraction. The BBC reported up to four people suspected to have the virus have been put in isolation in Addis Ababa. Three of the people were students from universities in the Wuhan area.

Mozambique’s cabinet on Tuesday decided to temporarily suspend the issuance of visas on arrival for travellers from China, as one of the measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The government is contemplating evacuating its students studying in China, who have requested to be taken from the country until the virus outbreak is controlled.

While prevention and fever checks upon entry is an essential first step, it may not be enough. Despite measures set in place, the Kenya Airways passenger was screened and cleared by China Port health authorities at the Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport and cleared for boarding.

The problem is the coronavirus’ long incubation period. While direct flights from cities in China to major hubs in East and West Africa range from anywhere from 12 hours to13 hours, coronavirus symptoms can appear anywhere between two to 14 days after exposure, according to the US government’s Center for Disease Control (CDC).

In African regions where borders are porous and passengers hop on short flights between countries for business and travel, a unified response to containing the coronavirus’ spread is key.

When Ebola broke out in West Africa in early 2014, “untracked contacts across borders” curtailed efforts towards to contain the disease despite early intervention by local governments and the World Health Organization (WHO). With the fallout from Ebola serving as a powerful lesson, the WHO has been coordinating with officials in Africa since news of the virus’ spread hit.

 

The Corona Virus Spread

Coronavirus was first identified by Chinese researchers as the pathogen behind a mysterious illness that had sickened 59 people in Wuhan, Hubei in 2019, a city of 11 million in central China.

The disease has spread to Chinese cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, as authorities of that country confirmed on Tuesday that its death toll had surpassed 100 from over 4,000 cases reported. It had also spread to the U.S., Thailand, South Korea, Japan, Australia, France, and Canada. (NAN).

The number of reported cases and deaths of coronavirus is doubling every couple of days, and patients have now been reported from many Asian countries, as well as the Middle East, Europe, Australia, and the US.

 

What is Corona Virus; Symptoms and Preventions? 

Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that cause disease in animals. Seven, including the new virus, have made the jump to humans but most just cause common cold-like symptoms.

Two coronaviruses – Middle East respiratory syndrome (Mers) and severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) – are much more severe, having killed more than 1,500 people between them since 2002.

The new virus, known as Wuhan coronavirus (2019-nCoV), is also more dangerous. So far, around 15 to 20 percent of hospital cases have been classed as “severe” and the current death rate stands at about two percent. This is much lower than Mers or Sars but still a significant threat.

According to the NHS and the WHO, symptoms of the Wuhan coronavirus usually include:

• Feeling tired
• Difficulty breathing
• A high temperature
• A cough and/or sore throat

These symptoms are similar to other respiratory diseases, including flu and the common cold. So if you have symptoms consider the following:

• Have you travelled in the last two weeks to a high-risk area?
• Have you been in contact with someone who has?
• How quickly do symptoms emerge?
• Symptoms are thought to appear between two and 10 days after contracting the virus.

There is also some evidence, though yet unconfirmed, that the virus can be spread by asymptomatic people – that is people who carry the virus but are not yet sick.

If this is correct it will make the virus considerably more difficult to control.

If you have traveled to any significantly affected area in the last two weeks, do NOT go straight to a doctor’s surgery or hospital as, if you have the virus, you risk spreading it to others. Just call the Ministry of Health Hotline 09092996283; 08095553232.

 

Reliving the Ebola Days

 

Nigerians will not forget in a hurry the dreadful days of the Ebola virus scare in 2014. The loss of Dr. Stella Adedevoh and many others are a painful reminder of the impact of the Ebola virus on Nigeria.

The index case in Nigeria was a Liberian-American, Patrick Sawyer, who flew from Liberia to Nigeria on 20 July 2014. Sawyer became violently ill upon arriving at the airport and died five days later.

On 6 August 2014, the Nigerian health ministry announced the first Nigerian to die of Ebola was recorded. This was one of the nurses that attended to the Sawyer. The doctor who treated Sawyer, Ameyo Adadevoh, subsequently also died of Ebola.

On 22 September 2014, the Nigerian health ministry announced there was no case of Ebola in Nigeria. According to the WHO, 20 cases and 8 deaths had been confirmed, along with the imported case, who also died. Four of the dead were health care workers who had cared for Sawyer. In all, 529 contacts had been followed and all cleared after quarantine.

The international community praised Nigeria’s handling of the Ebola outbreak considering the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan had allocated 1 million dollars to fight the disease.

With the fear of the Coronavirus gradually creeping into Nigerians, many wonder if this administration would effectively tackle it as the previous administration handled Ebola. No one wants to find out as we pray the coronavirus never makes it into the country.