Abstract
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a novel disease pandemic that emerged in late 2019 in China, and later spread to other parts of the world, including Nigeria. This review analyzes the preparedness of Nigeria to the COVID-19 pandemic and recommends strategies that could be useful in controlling the disease. Published articles on COVID-19 worldwide, socioeconomic and disease status and preparedness to COVID-19 in Africa and Nigeria, were retrieved from databases such as Pubmed, MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Knowledge and Google search engine. Nigeria is the most populous black nation in the world, and is one of the largest crude oil producers in the world. However, its healthcare system is dilapidated and weak, due to years of neglect and widespread corruption. As a result, Nigeria is vulnerable to COVID-19, as evidenced by the current geographical distribution of the disease in its population. Many socioeconomic factors could potentially facilitate the spread of COVID-19 in Nigeria. This could lead to a high caseload in the country, which could overwhelm the health care system. The application of social distancing, personal hygiene, especially hand hygiene and mask-wearing, as practiced in many countries, has proven to be effective to reduce the spread of COVID-19. In Nigeria, social distancing, in many instances, may be impracticable, given its large population, and a high density of people living in crowded conditions like slums and camps. Moreover, there is a sizeable population of internally displaced people, due to the attack by Boko Haram fighters in Northern Nigeria, and herdsmen in Southern Nigeria. The implementation of these measures is likely to be a great challenge. Nigeria has announced a complete lockdown for the containment of COVD-19, but its implementation and efficacy are doubtful, due to the same reasons previously mentioned.
Highlights
More than a decade ago, scientists warned that the high rate of interaction and consumption of wildlife, especially horseshoe bats in China, was a time bomb that could potentially cause the Challenges 2020, 11, 22; doi:10.3390/challe11020022 www.mdpi.com/journal/challengesChallenges 2020, 11, 22 reemergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) viruses or the emergence of unknown viruses [1]
Because SARS-CoV-2 is transmitted through diverse routes, including nasal, ocular and oral, health workers in Nigeria need personnel protective equipment (PPE) that can cover the entire face and body, in order to reduce the risk of being infected with COVID-19 [2,6,80]
It is evident that Nigeria was not as well prepared for the COVID-19 outbreak as at the time when the first case was recorded, and the response was inadequate
Summary
More than a decade ago, scientists warned that the high rate of interaction and consumption of wildlife, especially horseshoe bats in China, was a time bomb that could potentially cause the Challenges 2020, 11, 22; doi:10.3390/challe11020022 www.mdpi.com/journal/challenges. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a viral pneumonia with symptoms such as dry cough, fever, sore throat, dyspnea, body pain and diarrhoea [2] This disease emerged in late December 2019 in Wuhan, in Hubei province of China, and within three months, it had spread globally, prompting the. Nigeria is a concerning example of a vulnerable health system, and according to the healthcare system corruption rating among Anglophone West African countries by Transparency. There is a high burden of chronic diseases such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and so on population of Nigeria, thereby predisposing majority ofInthem to COVID-19. This reviewdescribes describesand andanalyzes analyzes the the status status of and provides recommendations that will be useful to various stakeholders in the country.
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