By Michael Adeosun
Following the spread of Coronavirus, the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared a public health emergency of a global concern. It has become obvious that this is not just a problem for China. It is a problem for the whole world. A health challenge for all nations.
As it stands now, every responsible government is being proactive to ensure that a coronavirus outbreak does not become an epidemic within it geographic location. One of the the control measures is to screen inbound travellers from China. Some countries have gone the extra mile to evacuate their nationals from China and have them quarantined for two weeks while they are being medically screened and examined. Russia has even taken an extreme but practical measure. It closed its border with China!
A lot of Nigerians travel to China every day, mostly for business. Suffice to say that there are Nigerian who will be making home bound trip back from China, the hot spot of Coronavirus. Also, a lot of Chinese live and work in Nigeria and a very large percentage of them have travelled to they home country, China for the Chinese New Year festival. They will very soon start making a return back to work in Nigeria.
Given the above, what measures are being taken by the Ministry of Health in Nigeria to prevent, control and curtail the Coronavirus spreading to Nigeria?
Is the Ministry of Health already working with Customs and Immigration to put in place an effective check post at every points of entry into the country?
A country of 200 million people must know for sure that it is far better to prevent an epidemic than to deal with one that is already spreading within its borders. That is especially so if that country does not have the best public health practice or system in place.
It is better to be proactive than to be reactive. We must by now have had a firewall to prevent this spread of Coronavirus getting to us.
~Michael Adeosun (c) 2020
Leave a Reply