The Director, Institute of Molecular Sciences and Biotechnology, University of Ilorin, Mathew Kolawole, professor of virology, has said that Nigeria needs to look inwards and take responsibility in dealing with Covid-19 due to its high level of transmissibility.
Kolawole made the call Tuesday while featuring on a Channels Television interview programme on the topic, “COVID-19: Quest for Local Solution”.
The renowned Medical Virologist, who was recently appointed into the Ministerial Advisory Committee on COVID-19, said that the virus has been with us, affirming that research has reported a strain of the virus in Nigeria in 2017.
According to Kolawole, “It is not new to us, this virus has been with us. It is just that we have this novel strain of Corona virus which is in circulation globally all over the world. We have reported Corona virus OC’23 strain in Nigeria. The research was conducted in a group”.
On the transmission modes, the don pointed out that from the study and investigation carried out in 2017, overcrowding has been found to be responsible for the spread of Corona virus, stating that the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) regulations and WHO guidelines also state the need to keep social distance.
“We need to look at the transmission modes of the virus particularly the one that has to do with the fact that we need to prevent overcrowding, part of the study/investigation which we did in 2017 makes the risk factor established, overcrowding has been adduced to the spread of Corona virus,” he said.
Stressing on the need for Nigerians to adhere strictly to all precautions to prevent the spread of the virus, Kolawole posits that “We need to be careful,follow all the indoor precautions, particularly the ones that have to do with the spread of the virus”.
Lamenting that Nigerians are taking the virus to be unreal, he says: “The COVID-19 strain that we have is a severe strain, so there is need for us to be very very careful. Nigerians must take this issue seriously, I heard people saying it is not true”.
