The World Health Organisation (WHO) has advised the Nigerian government and others battling the coronavirus pandemic that shutting down population movement won’t necessarily extinguish the virus.
The United Nations’ international health arm gave this counsel in a press briefing on Wednesday by Director-General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
More than 30,000 have died from the novel coronavirus globally while nearly 200,000 have been infected.
Nigeria is the first sub-saharan nation to record a case in February and since then, almost 100 persons have contracted the virus with one death.
Like the rest of the world, the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration put in place some strict measures to abort further spread.
Chiefly among them border closure, ban on international flights, social distancing and restriction of movement.
However, the WHO believes there is more to do to contain the spread of the virus than just keeping people in their homes.
“We understand that countries are trying to assess when and how they will be able to ease these measures,” the DG said.
“The answer depends on what countries do while these population-wide measures are in place.
“Asking people to stay at home and shutting down population movement is buying time and reducing the pressure on health systems, but on their own, these measures will not extinguish the epidemics.”
WHO, therefore, recommended 6 key actions to go with the lockdown.
“We call on all countries that have introduced so-called ‘lockdown’ measures to use this time to attack the virus. You have created a second window of opportunity. The question is: how will you use it? There are 6 key actions that we recommend:
“Expand, train, and deploy your health care and public health workforce.
“Implement a system to find every suspected case at the community level.
“Amp up production capacity and availability of testing.
“Identify, adapt, and equip facilities you will use to treat patients
“Develop a clear plan and process to quarantine contacts
“Refocus the whole of government on suppressing and controlling COVID-19.”
These measures, according to WHO, are the best way to suppress and stop transmission so that when restrictions are lifted, the virus doesn’t resurge.
