COVID-19 and Fear

 

COVID-19 is the disease caused by a new coronavirus called SARS-CoV-2.  The World Health Organization first learned of this new virus on 31 December 2019, following a report of a cluster of cases of ‘viral pneumonia’ in Wuhan, China.  The disease is characterized dominantly by: Fever, Dry cough, Fatigue. Other less common symptoms include: Loss of taste or smell, Conjunctivitis, headaches, nausea, loss of appetite, difficulty in breathing and sleep disorder.

On the 27th of February 2020, The Federal Ministry of Health, Nigeria confirmed the first coronavirus disease (COVID-19) case in Lagos State, Nigeria since the beginning of the outbreak in Wuhan, China in January 2020. It was that of an Italian citizen who works in Nigeria, had travelled to Milan, Italy and returned to Lagos, Nigeria on the 25th of February 2020.  He was tested and confirmed by the Virology Laboratory of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, a laboratory affiliate of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control. Most of the persons who had been in contact with him caught the virus. It further spread to other States in Nigeria.

With a continuous increase in the number of Cases, the Federal Government announced a lockdown in late march, this was to curb the virus. During the Lockdown, several persons thought they had contacted the virus, there was fear and panic with an increase in the spread of false information on Social media platform. Just like in the time of Ebola, some scholars had the opinion that more people died from fear and excessive intake of salt than of the virus itself.

In my opinion, The Covid-19 Pandemic has had a huge impact on various sectors: Economic System, there was a massive fall of naira which affected Nigerians at home and those in diaspora. In the Educational system, while e-learning was introduced for Children to continue learning in urban schools, learning ceased for Children in rural schools, it was more severe for those in Tertiary institutions.     

The World Health Organization proposed the following to reduce the spread of the virus: clean your hands often, observe reasonable physical distance and wear a mask when physical distancing is not possible.

The continuous release of information that contains update of the ‘observation of the virus’ is troubling. At the moment, all that we know about the virus is subject to change. The good news is that soon, the discovered Vaccine will get to Nigeria. While we await that, it would be advantageous if the Government procures the vaccine without getting into debt. Being in debt would mean that there would be no sudden end of the economic recession. Also, knowing that the Covid-19 incited fear in Nigerians, more jingles geared towards improving the mental health of Nigerians should be done.

 

 

Peace Edu