After learning from the media how to stay free of COVID-19, Nigerian taxi driver Ebenezer Akintunde has been carrying around a bottle of hand sanitizer as he shuttles between the airport and the city center in Nigeria’s capital of Abuja.
“In my car’s pigeonhole, I have up to two dozen masks which I offer to any passengers who might need them during the trip,” he said. Nigeria confirmed its first novel coronavirus case on Feb. 28. There are now more than 100 cases recorded in 15 countries in Africa, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
As the WHO characterized the outbreak as a “pandemic” on Wednesday, more African countries are stepping up measures to prevent further spread of the deadly virus across the continent, with lessons learned from Ebola and support from the international community.
ALL-OUT EFFORTS
Amid a hike in the global caseload, African countries are waging all-out efforts against COVID-19 with lessons learned from the Ebola crisis. The fight against COVID-19 could benefit from the experience learned during the Ebola epidemic, said Jean-Jacques Muyembe, coordinator in charge of the fight against the Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The current panic caused by COVID-19, which is very similar to that by the Ebola virus, is due to a lack of preparation for these new diseases, said Muyembe. During the Ebola outbreak in Nigeria between July and September 2014, the country traced and monitored 899 contacts and secondary cases out of which only seven were confirmed killed by the virus.
Nigeria is now using the same pattern of contact tracing to cope with COVID-19 and so are other African countries.
South African Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said his country was ready to deal with the virus with screening intensified at all ports of entry. Outbreak response teams have been activated across the country. The government has also designated hospitals as emergency centers.
Egyptian Health Minister Hala Zayed said Egypt has imported 250,000 test kits which can shorten detection and generate results in 30 minutes, and will distribute them to all ports and airports across the country.
Kenya, which confirmed its first coronavirus case on Friday, announced a raft of measures, including screening passengers at all entry points, canceling all international conferences, setting up special units to deal with suspected cases, and establishing isolation centers across the country.
“There is no reason to panic as that would be counterproductive. Everything is under control,” Cameroon’s Minister of Communication Rene Emmanuel Sadi said on Saturday after the country reported its first two cases.
“So far, our life is as usual. I have not noticed a decline of customers,” said textile store owner Gbatoagbesse Kossivi from Togo, where the first coronavirus case was reported last week. “My three kids still go to school every day. We do have concerns, but our confidence to overcome the epidemic is strong.” Read more>>
