Coronavirus : NMA President calls for calm
– Steve Ovirih.
The President of Nigeria Medical Association ( NMA), Dr. Dayo Francis Faduyile has charged Nigerians to keep their calm and not to give in to panic and anxiety over the spread of the coronavirus (COVID- 19), which single index case has been confirmed in Nigeria. He noted in a media chat that, ” despite having confirmed case of coronavirus in the country, Nigerians have no reason to panic.”
Dr. Faduyile expressed confidence in the preparedness of the Federal government and the component states . While noting that the virus is still limited to the index case of the Italian, Faduyile said if the country is lucky, the index case may not have affected others. He stressed that government has already commenced contact tracing of those the index case might have contact with . He also said those quarantined have fourteen days incubation period and if they do not show any sign in those fourteen days, it means the outcome of the single index case will have been contained.
Dr. Faduyile while commenting on government effort so far said, ” as regards the level of government response, there is nothing much they can do more than what they have done. The most important thing is for them to do thorough contact tracing and have a high index of suspicion for the outbreak in case we have one or two people who have escaped the quarantine. ”
Dr. Faduyile said Nigerians rose swiftly and quickly when there was Ebola outbreak in Nigeria few years back, and contained it . ” I am very convinced that we will be able to contain this too. Most importantly, we need to let people know that practicing good hygiene , washing hands properly are practices we should imbibe now,” the NMA President said.
He advised those sneezing or coughing to cover their face properly so as to avoid spreading the virus . “People should stay about one meter or one point three meters away from a person coughing or sneezing.”
While enlightening people about the use of face mask, Faduyile note that it is not purposely to guide against the infection but to ensure those who are infected do not spread it to others.
