CORONA VIRUS PANDEMIC

CORONA VIRUS PANDEMIC

It is so disheartening that an unknown virus should come out of the blues and put a stop to most planned activities for the year. The year 2020 was a year many looked forward to, and were full of hope and expectation. Now, many of those visions, goals and aspirations have been put on hold till God knows when.

Although this virus is still being studied, there are some facts that tell us about its behaviour, mode of transmission and symptoms.

Corona virus is any group of RNA viruses that causes a variety of diseases in humans and other animals. That is, this virus belongs to a family of other similar viruses that caused diseases in humans, examples of such was the 2002 SARS (Severe acute Respiratory Syndrome). 

However, the Corona virus responsible for COVID-19 has been unknown to medicine which is why no cure is available as at now. The disease that started in Wuhan, China has spread to almost every nation on Earth which is almost a repeat episode of the 1918 influenza that was more deadly. The disease spreads by direct contact with infected people and indirect   contact with surfaces in the immediate environment or with objects used on the infected person. It also spreads when respiratory droplets from infected persons get on an uninfected person. This form of transmission occurs when a person is in close contact(within 1m)with someone who has respiratory symptoms. 

The way this virus spreads is similar to other viruses which has helped scientists devise a way to control it. The WHO(world health Organisation) in collaboration with several government has agreed to follow some rules in order to contain the spread of the virus. These measures include washing of hands often, reduce contact with body parts especially the face, maintain a distance of about 2m from other individuals. Also a compulsory lockdown was imposed in very susceptible countries.

The first case of this virus in Africa was in Egypt on 14th February 2020. A fortnight later, the first case of the virus in Nigeria was confirmed in Lagos, when an Italian citizen tested positive for covid-19 . Since then, there has been a steady rise in cases which led to a lockdown in major cities of the country. The lockdown was declared on 26 March 2020 which also included total closure of schools, churches and mosques.

However, on the 4th of May 2020 the lockdown was eased allowing some places of work to go about their activities but with stricter laws such as social distancing etc but schools, churches and other places of worship were to remain closed. 

These lockdown periods have been extended so that there would be enough time to combat the virus. Surprisingly, there isn't enough evidence to show that these lockdown really helped. Some studies show that when people are allowed to go out and enjoy fresh air and sunshine their immune system is strengthened because of easy production of vitamin D. Also when they are allowed outside the virus becomes less concentrated. With the people at home the virus has started to spread amongst families because of the state of the mind of them staying at home their immunity is drastically reduced.

It's better to test the two sides of the coin. Since one side has proved ineffective, perhaps the other might give more positive results. I hope that with the above points you've been enlightened further about the disease and on how unrealistic it was to impose a lockdown.
Thank you.

Written by: Princewill  Onosedeba Felix.
https://blozzomeveryday.blogspot.com

CORONA VIRUS PANDEMIC

Firstly, Corona virus (also known as COVID-19) is a respiratory disease which affects the lungs and every other respiratory organ through eye, nose and mouth.

This corona virus originated late last year December 2019 in Wuhan, China. The China authority claimed that the so called virus was contacted from the animal called bat. The virus started to spread to other parts of the world since China couldn’t effectively control it on time and soon it became a pandemic. Science has proven that the symptoms are similar to that of the influenza (FLU). Some of the symptoms are dry cough, itching of the body, sore throat, difficulty in breathing etc.

The first case was recorded in Nigeria on 27th February, 2020 through an Italian man who came for business at Lafarge Cement at Ewekoro in Ogun State, since then a series of cases have been witnessed in the country.

In the effort to curb the spread of the virus states and federal governments in conjunction with Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) have put following measures in place to contain the widespread of the pandemic such as lockdown, restriction of movement, the use of face masks, alcohol based hand sanitizers and washing of hands with soap regularly to prevent the virus for further spreading. 

Despite this effort, a lot of people have been infected, although treatments are on-going in different isolation centres in the country while few casualties have been recorded as a result of this novel pandemic.

The virus has affected the income of individuals and corporate companies to the extent that companies are laying-off staff due to loss recorded by the companies during the pandemic and the resultant effect of this is that unemployment will increase of which high rate of social vices will be experienced while the standard of living will drastically fall.  

As for the nations’ economy, there will be no income revenue to states and the federal government, rather than buying things to contain this virus because all economy sectors (such as transportation, agriculture, oil, entertainment and tourism etc.) were affected due to the lockdown.

From the news we have heard around the world, the cases are increasing every day in thousand so as deaths recorded are also increasing.

Since researches are going on throughout the world and there is no specific cure for the pandemic now, the precautions as advised by World Health Organisation (WHO) is to observe social distancing, washing of hands always, using of nose masks and alcohol based hand sanitizers to mitigate the spread of the virus before the approved vaccine will be announced by World Health Organisation (WHO).

In conclusion, we can fight the coronavirus together by obeying the above laid down guidelines as well as “STAY HOME AND STAY SAFE”.

Thank you.

Written by: Ilesanmi Aramide 

https://blozzomeveryday.blogspot.com