COVID-19 CASES: THE WORRY IN AFRICA.

Many have been moved to wonder why Coronavirus (COVID-19) cases are still relatively low in Africa. Of the 54 African countries, over 432 cases have been reported in 35 countries as of 20^th March 2020.

We are still in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic and many more cases are being anticipated within the coming weeks, however, there are factors that may have been responsible for the low number of reported cases in Africa including ineffective border screening and travel restrictions, local climate effects, a lack of screening or a lack of adequate reporting.

The fear here is that many of us are not confident with the measures in place to fight the pandemic in most African countries in the event of a higher number of cases. The expectation is that African governments must act quickly; impose travel restrictions and beef up accessible COVID-19 Screening, Quarantine and Treatment Centres across cities. The public also has a huge part to play because precautionary measures are effective only as far as they are diligently observed.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has urged countries in Africa to “prepare for the worst” as the coronavirus begins to spread locally, the World Health Organization’s director-general said Wednesday, while South Africa became the continent’s new focus of concern as cases nearly doubled to 150 from a few days before.

The most worrisome for those of us from Nigeria is the nagging possibility that the Government may not have accurate data on positive cases. This could be wrong, still the fear remains, more so because travel restrictions were not in effect until five (5) more cases were officially reported (18 February 2020) by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), weeks after the index case was announced back in February (27 February 2020). The best recommendation at this point includes ‘social distancing’ and self isolation/quarantine.

The number of Virus-Free African countries is gradually shrinking even as governments are frantically putting preventive measures in place. Egypt has confirmed over 200 cases (210) as at 20^th February 2020.

Countries are at different stages of shutting down local travel and public gathering as economic and sporting activities are being disrupted. This shows the seriousness of the situation.

According to updates, hospital staff in the Chinese city where the coronavirus originated removed their masks ceremoniously as the country’s last emergency hospital, built to handle the crisis, was closed. Clearly, the fact that the Chinese government was on top of the situation from the onset led to this. Africa has a long way to get to that point.