Most people of the world would not have known a place in China called Wuhan until a deadly coronavirus known as COVID-19 appeared from the city’s wildlife market. Wuhan, the capital of Central China’s Hubei Province of about 11 million people, is the epicentre of the coronavirus. For residents of Wuhan, life has not been easy because of the lockdown by the Chinese government of Xi Jinping.
At most, the spread of the virus was slowed by the lockdown imposed in China and other countries’ efforts to identify infected people and anyone they might have been in contact with. As you may be aware, seniors and people with weakened immune systems are at increased risk. There is information out there in the public domain that the best defences include basic precautions like hand washing, staying calm, and protecting medical workers. The disease, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), is different from influenza. It is not Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), neither is it Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).
The spread of the coronavirus is on a global scale. The index case in Nigeria is from an Italian who is in the country on a business trip from Italy. Miraculously, no death has been recorded in Nigeria so far. As days go by, it is becoming very clear to experts that the epidemic will take a long time to contain. At the time of writing, it is reported by CNN that more than 3000 people are dead with over 92,000 infected cases registered worldwide.
Globally, people are concerned and many people want to know the truth behind the outbreak of the virus in Wuhan. At least, only Chinese government will be in the best position to say correctly what went wrong in Wuhan. Analysts believe that someday the truth will be known about the coronavirus. At the appropriate time, the whole world will know the truth about this deadly disease, and the truth will set us free. But one thing is certain, the first whistleblower, Li Wenliang, a doctor who reported a mysterious SARS-like illness paid the price- he died of the coronavirus.
Despite controversies trailing the coronavirus outbreak, the novel disease also known as CONVID-19, is spreading rapidly as days go by. The coronavirus has subjected authorities in many countries to stress. Critiques are already judging countries-developing and developed – on how they respond and in what way they treat those infected by the virus. Going by the spread of the coronavirus, many countries including the G7 (seven most industrialized countries) are already embarrassed by the disease in a tragic way because they were ill prepared for the outbreak.
The crisis has become a great strain on China’s political leadership as it has on its medical workers. An official account was reported saying that the coronavirus is “a major test of China’s system and capacity for governance.” This may sound like a grim assessment, but many foreign policy analysts are of the view that Western democracies may not fare much better than China. In fact, they say “the world is about to witness the fracturing of the global health policy space and what happens when countries do not work together.” They equally write that the WHO “continues to operate on a budget equivalent to that of a large hospital in the United States, because member states won’t pay up – crippling its ability to truly lead any global fight against new and emerging disease.”
The coronavirus outbreak is occurring at a time when most economies are fragile. Since the outbreak of the virus, the price of crude oil in the international market has gone down. The IMF had to downgrade its outlook for global growth this year 2020. Nigeria, an oil- dependent economy may review her 2020 budget over the coronavirus. The impact of the virus on sports may eventually cause a postponement of the Olympic Games scheduled to take place in Tokyo in 2020. Due to an increasing number of those affected by the virus, Italian schools and colleges have been shut down for 2 weeks. Global travels and tourism have been affected as flights have been suspended to Beijing, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. Most hotel rooms are empty in Wuhan, the centre of the deadly viral outbreak.
The outbreak has brought everyday business to a halt and closed down such popular tourist attractions such as Beijing’s former imperial palace, Shanghai Disneyland, Hong Kong Disneyland and the city’s Ocean Park. Unconfirmed sources say that about 8 percent of administrators in Iran has tested positive to the deadly virus while the WHO says there is shortage of medical supplies globally.
Reacting to the virus, the Director General, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) raised the alarm on drug insecurity in Nigeria in an interview titled “Drug Shortage Imminent if Coronavirus Epidemic Persists,” The Guardian, February 22, 2020.
“Nigeria needs to increase local manufacturing of drugs to avoid drug shortage that reflects drug insecurity. We import about 65-70 percent from South-east Asia countries, mostly from China and India. If an epidemic like coronavirus persists, there could be drug shortage.”
Furthermore, the DG acknowledged that: “There have been reports that some medicines are effective to some extent against the virus. A registered drug that was reported to be effective to some extent is chloroquine. The drug is under research for the virus. A caution must be taken because chloroquine, an old antimalarial that was banned from use should not be used for the treatment of malaria because it is no longer effective for malaria.”
Although, there is no universally accepted vaccine for the cure of the dreadful virus, China is reported to have recommended an arthritis drug for complications arising from the virus. While a Ghanaian pastor sells coronavirus anointing oil to members of his church. As we wash our hands with soaps and use hand sanitizers, all nations of the world must pull resources together to combat COVID- 19.
Although we conquered Ebola in Nigeria a few years ago, one expects health authorities worldwide to deal decisively with the novel coronavirus. It is time to act. The outbreak of COVID-19 has shown us that health is better than wealth. So when citizens say that those in authority at all levels – local, state, and federal – should do more in the provision of healthcare to the people, it is because prevention is better and cheaper than cure. Thank you!
MA Johnson
