Africa And The Coronavirus-Is the Question Necessary?
Africa in general have been spared in the recent epidemic of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) all over the world.There have been severe cases in European countries such as Italy,France e.t.c.But the question remains,why has the coronavirus epidemic not ravaged Africa even with a messy public health system?
Several buzz on social media have termed this question mostly from European newspapers as racist and unnecessary.
The cases of Coronavirus infection is remarkably small in the Africa continent,but is gaining traction in Egypt with over 50 plus cases, Senegal,Gambia,Nigeria and others have reported one or more cases.For an infection that kept a whole country of Italy on lockdown,it sure poses the question Why is the Coronavirus not hitting Africa hard?..But is the question necessary.
Shortly after the virus appeared,the WHO panicked on the possibility of a disaster when the virus hits countries in Africa with weak health systems.This was quite understandable because of the Ebola disaster in DR Congo and Sierra Leone in 2014–2015 which claimed over 20,000 deaths.
WHY HAS THE VIRUS SPARED AFRICA SO FAR
Nobody knows.Majority feel it may be the climate,our genes or whatnot.The truth is that we are far disconnected from the unlike other continents.Africa has approximately 4–5% of the global tourism index,and less people flow between Africa and the affected countries.It is expected that new cases of the virus will emerge when the virus spread across borders of the African continent.Algeria and Egypt have currently reported more cases than the rest of the African continent,and this is expected to spread across other neighbouring countries.
I feel we might not be as resilient as we think and we should be ready and more informed about the spread of the virus,than its rarity in the continent.
IS IT A NECESSARY QUESTION TO ASK
For a country with one of the weakest public health care system?…Yes of course.Nigeria contained the Ebola Virus in 2014 ,which was applauded by health agencies all over the world.It was a collected effort by the Nigerian Health workers to contain the virus without much foreign intervention.The only reported Coronavirus patient was also handled meticulously by the Nigerian health agencies which was also applauded all over the world .This begs on the reason why the virus is not endemic in Africa, maybe just because we learnt how to contain the virus,and we are applying it.
The mainstream media asking why the Virus has spared Africa is not witch hunting or racism but rather of curiosity of what was expected to happen but did not.
CAN THE SPREAD BE REDUCED
Our experience from handling Ebola virus and HIV must have been the reason why the handling of the Coronavirus have been great.But more effort is needed both from the government and individual to protect themselves and prevent the spread of the virus from person to person.
