Covid-19: 10,000 cases and our future
On Sunday, May 31, 2020 the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases hit 10,162, in spite of the awareness campaigns by government, World Health Organisation (WHO) and civil society organisations. Though the curve of Covid-19 is rising due to exponential increment, government on Monday decided to relax some of aspects of the lockdown, and indicating that […]
On Sunday, May 31, 2020 the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases hit 10,162, in spite of the awareness campaigns by government, World Health Organisation (WHO) and civil society organisations. Though the curve of Covid-19 is rising due to exponential increment, government on Monday decided to relax some of aspects of the lockdown, and indicating that the fate of Nigerians would now depend largely on their attitude to hygiene and social distancing.
Under the new arrangement, churches and mosques shall re-open, allowing for congregational meetings under certain social distancing conditions. As at Tuesday, the five states with the highest number of infections and mortality include: Lagos (5,135 infections and 55 deaths), Kano (958 infections and 45 deaths), the Federal Capital Territory (674 infections and 20 deaths); Katsina (371 infections and 19 deaths) and Edo (325 infections and 13 deaths). From the data provided by the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), the infection rate has continued to increase from state to state, while some states have continued to lock themselves up in denial. This is very unfortunate.
Though the atmosphere in the country favours an end to the lockdown, the underlying conditions of the society may put the people at risk. In Europe, Asia, America and other parts of the world where lockdown has been eased, there were appreciable reduction in infection and mortality rates. In some countries, there were days or even weeks without new infections, while deaths from Covid-19 had reduced to drastically. This is not the case in Nigeria. For instance, in the month of May, 2020, the infection rate had grown from 2,000 on May 1 to 10,000 on May 31. That is to say, every week in May, the country recorded an additional 2,000 Covid-19 cases.
Medical experts have attributed the rising cases to the increase in the number of tests being carried out in recent times. No doubt, more Nigerians have been infected because of the poor investment in testing kit over the last three months. Available comparative data have shown that South Africa, Egypt, Algeria, Ghana and Morocco have tested more persons per 1,000 than Nigeria has done in spite of the fact that the country’s population is four times more than the population of some of these countries. With fewer number of tests, the rate of infections would rise because many of these infected have gone ahead to spread covid-19 undetected.
In order to halt the increasing infection rate, we call on federal and governments to urgently invest heavily on testing kits to ensure detection of as many persons as have been infected. They must also set up isolation centres as the number of infected Nigerians increases. In addition, we call on the National Orientation Agency (NOA) and the Presidential Task Force (PTF) to enlighten Nigerian on effective ways of maintaining social distancing at schools, worship centres, markets and the like, to limit community infection now that the lockdown is being eased. Also, government must be transparent in distributing palliatives to cushion the effects of Covid-19. In the last three months, the palliative distribution has been viewed with suspicion and doubt, with allegations of corruption beclouding it.
As we enter this new and uncertain phase, government must liaise with the people and build the kind of trust that would enable them to cooperate in the battle against Covid-19. Up till now, Nigerians have expressed doubts about government’s measures, suspecting that the infection rates have been made up. The communication strategies of government must be improved upon in such a way that the ordinary Nigerian is made to understand how to protect themselves and maintain social distance in their daily activities. Such communication must take into consideration the peculiarities of the different communities in the country.
With the rise in infection rate to 10,000 and above, Nigeria is at a dangerous curve in the fight against Covid-19. All hands must be on deck to prevent it from degenerating to an unmanageable situation.