The world didn’t see it coming but the world now has to deal with the unpleasant situation – the coronavirus pandemic.
Spread across over 180 countries, about 272,000 people have contracted the virus and at least 11,310 have died, CNN reports, quoting statistics by Johns Hopkins University as at the morning of Saturday, March 21.
12 of those cases have been confirmed and active in Nigeria same period as John Hopkins tally.
The first case being that of an Italian national was recorded on February 28 and since then, confirmed cases have risen to 12, according to the NCDC daily update of Friday, March 19.
Nigeria’s first drastic measure was to place a travel ban on 13 high-risk Covid-19 countries from Saturday, March 21, for four weeks. By this directive, given on Wednesday, March 18, nationals of China, Italy, Iran, South Korea, Spain, Japan, France, Germany, Norway, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Switzerland are restricted from travelling to Nigeria.
This was followed by the addition of Sweden and Austria bringing the list to 15, on Friday.
If the criteria of restricting these countries based on their record of over 1, 000 as put forward by the 12-man Presidential Committee led by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, is anything to go by, at least five other countries ought to have been added to that list since. From Europe to Asia and America, countries battling with major situations ought not to be spared.
Belgium
Europe’s central state has been on total lockdown since Wednesday, March 18, with movements restricted. Residents are only allowed to leave their homes for essential reasons, such as food shopping, health-related errands or assisting someone in need. This was after an initial partial lockdown some days prior.
As at the time Nigeria was drawing up its list of countries restricted, Belgium already had 1, 486 cases and 14 deaths. On Friday when Nigeria reviewed its list, the cases had risen to 2, 257 and 37 deaths, prompting Belgium to adopt stiffer measures.
On another scale of analysis, it appears Belgium, with an 11 million population, is worse hit than some of the countries the travel ban affected, considering population to case ratio. For instance, Sweden with a close population figure to Belgium’s had 1939 cases and 17 deaths as at Friday. If Austria was added to the list, why not Belgium?
Denmark
24 hours before Mr Mustapha’s committee made public the travel restrictions, Denmark already passed the 1, 000 benchmark having recorded 1, 024 cases on March 17. Before this day the country already put its schools on lockdown and directed all people working in non-essential functions in the public sector must stay home for two weeks.
However, Nigeria didn’t deem it fit to place the country on restriction on Wednesday. Assuming the country had not updated its record as at the time of the committee meeting and announcement on Wednesday, why was Denmark excluded again on Friday? The cases had risen to 1, 255 and 9 deaths by then. Denmark only has 5.6 million population.
Portugal
The same ‘why’ question could be asked on the exclusion of Portugal; from the list. Although the Southern European country was less 1, 000 cases on Wednesday, the number was well above the threshold on Friday at 1,020 cases and six deaths on Friday.
Already, it had risen to 1, 280 cases and 12 deaths as at Saturday morning. At 10 million, a population less than half of Lagos, those are scary figures to warrant a restriction. While Nigeria still condones its citizens, Portugal has already shut down except for essential services and declared a state of emergency on the pandemic.
Malaysia
With over 1, 000 cases on Friday is Southeast Asian country, Malaysia. 1, 030 cases and 3 deaths were enough statistics judging by the benchmark set by the Presidential Task Force. Malaysia is currently on partial lockdown and the government of Muhyiddin Yassin has directed that the military be deployed ‘control order’ and ensure implementation of the stay at home order.
Canada
Although with a larger population than others, Canadians are not worthy of being granted entry into Nigeria considering the 1, 000 cases benchmark.
Since it recorded its first case on February 15, confirmed infections stood at 1, 087 at 20th March. From this number, 12 people have died prompting the North American country to North American country to close its borders against refugees while promising financial assistance for its citizens.
“We’re going to be flowing income supports to millions of Canadians, “Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Tuesday.
Stiffer, safer criteria wanted
Judging by the specifics of the criteria used in deciding the countries to restrict, the logical thing to do for Nigeria is to place more countries on the list given the rising cases recorded in the country.
Further, a fixed number of 1, 000 cases may not be good enough to classify countries as high-risk judging by the dynamics of the disease in countries.
For instance, some countries have less than 1, 000 cases but badly hit based on the fact that such countries are small in population. In this category is Israel with 883 cases, one death for just an 8.7 million population. Also, 602 million Luxembourg now has 670 cases and eight deaths and 5.4 million population Finland with 512 cases, no deaths.
These figures suggest that population to cases ratio is also important in judging who to shut out of Nigeria or not.
Besides this, the fatality in some countries warrants that they be restricted. Greece has 13 deaths, Indonesia 38, Philippines 19, Iraq 17 and San Marino 14. These are countries with less than 500 cases. Algeria has 95 cases but recorded 11 deaths already.
Beyond the relative influence and media coverage that brought the countries already restricted to limelight, shouldn’t these others also be considered as high risk and restricted?
