In the second instalment of our end of the year review, Toby Prince takes a look at the rampaging coronavirus, its devastating effects and efforts to halt the tide in 2021.
Can you remember a year more life-changing than 2020? Almost two million lives lost in the pandemic, oil prices turned negative, and protests swept the streets. At the same time, 10 years of technology advancements seemed to happen in mere months—and now vaccinations are rolling out at a record speed.
December 1, 2019, was the first time a patient showed symptoms for the coronavirus. A lot has, however, happened in the last year. Of the 82 million infected persons worldwide, more than 1.7 million have succumbed to the virus that has also derailed global economy.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the first contagion of the “new pneumonia” took place on December 8 last year. The first death from this, until then nameless disease, was confirmed on January 11 and on the 21 of that month, it was revealed that it could be transmitted from person to person.
The WHO’s director-general, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, visited China in January to learn about the response of the authorities and provide assistance.
Two days later, the international health organization declared a “public health emergency of international concern.” But it was not until March 11 that the WHO called it a pandemic, despite pressure to do so.
On January 20, the first confirmed cases outside mainland China occurred in Japan, South Korea and Thailand, according to the W.H.O.’s first situation report. The index case in the United States came the next day in Washington State, where a man in his 30s developed symptoms after returning from a trip to Wuhan.
A fortnight later, a 44-year-old man in the Philippines died after being infected, officials said, the first death reported outside China. By this point, more than 360 people had passed. On Val’s Day, an 80-year-old Chinese tourist died at a hospital in Paris, in what was the first coronavirus death outside Asia.
That exact day, Africa registered its index case in Egypt. Nigeria then became the first nation in sub-Saharan Africa to be hit on February 27. An Italian citizen who works in the country returned with the virus from Milan to Lagos. Since then, the mother continent and its most populous nation have witnessed an adverse boom.
In Nigeria, there have been a little over 85,000 infections albeit nearly 72,000 recoveries. The country’s fatality is currently at around 1,300 representing about one death in almost every 66 cases. There have been over 2.5 million cases in Africa with South Africa accounting for more than one-third.
Curbing the spread
Just like other parts of the world, the Nigerian government has rolled out numerous health, social, and economic measures to curb the COVID-19. On the advice of the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19, President Muhammadu Buhari ordered the closure of religious centres, schools and government institutions in a massive lockdown in March.
However, the Federal Government eased the restriction in May following a decline in cases. There are already rumours of another lockdown in the new year owing to a spike in cases and reported third strain in the country. But with the progress made around the world in terms of vaccines, there may not be any need.
Race to the finish line
As the country where the coronavirus outbreak began, China was fast out of the gate in developing vaccines. As early as July, Tianjin-based CanSino Biologics published results from an early-stage clinical trial showing that its vaccine is safe and can trigger an immune response.
CanSino’s offering was made from a common cold virus, tweaked to mimic the coronavirus. Later, Sinopharm, a state-owned pharmaceutical company in Beijing, joined the fray, developing two vaccines with particles of the coronavirus that have been inactivated so that they can no longer cause disease.
Other countries quickly joined the fray. But it was minnows Madagascar that made an instant impact with its invention.
In April, the Island nation claimed to possess a remedy. The tonic, based on the plant, Artemisia annua, which has anti-malarial properties, was not proven by the World Health Organization but was put on sale to several African countries, including Nigeria. Despite the criticism, though, Madagascar remains one of the least affected in Africa with just a little over 17,000 cases and 261 deaths.
China, on its part, currently have vaccines from four front-runners already making their way abroad. Sinovac, Sinopharm, CanSino Biologics and the Chinese Academy of Sciences are in Phase 3 clinical trials.
Across the world, researchers are currently testing 64 vaccines in clinical trials on humans, and 19 have reached the final stages of testing. At least 85 preclinical vaccines are under active investigation in animals.
Comirnaty, developed by New York-based Pfizer and the German company BioNTech with over 95 per cent, is ranked as the most effective vaccine yet.
This has led to rapid authorizations across the world.
On Dec. 2, the United Kingdom gave emergency authorization to Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine, becoming the first Western country to give such approval to a coronavirus vaccine. Injections began on Dec. 8, with William Shakespeare, age 81, among the first to receive a dose.
On Dec. 13, workers at a Pfizer plant in Kalamazoo, Michigan loaded the vaccines onto trucks for the first deliveries across the United States. The first vaccinations were planned for the next day. Pfizer and BioNTech will deliver an initial shipment of 2.9 million doses to the United States in the first week after Comirnaty authorization.
A growing number of other countries across the world have also given emergency authorization for Comirnaty, including Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Kuwait, Mexico, Panama, and Singapore. The European Union signed off on the vaccine on Dec. 21. Meanwhile, Bahrain, Canada, Saudi Arabia and Switzerland gave the vaccine full approval.
The distribution of Comirnaty worldwide will be determined in part by deals that the companies made starting in the summer with countries around the world.
Other vaccines with a high efficacy include Moderna (the USA, 94.5%), Sputnik V (Russia, 91.4 %) and AZD1222 (the University of Oxford and the British-Swedish company AstraZeneca, 90 %).
Nigeria already announced its plans to vaccinate over 20 million of its citizens next year. “We have hope to vaccinate as many people as possible, but we want to start with 20 million doses of the vaccine first,” Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, said.
The recent scientific developments could potentially bring an end to the rampaging contagion. But for now, it lives with us.
