The spread of the novel Coronavirus disease has continued to rise in Nigeria despite all scientifically proven preventive measures.
Misinformation has been one of the major factors militating against preventive and control efforts.
A study examining the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria within the first wave of the outbreak further opened us to the realities of preventive and control challenges. However, with the Second wave, recent data from the daily updates of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) have graphically described the trend of spread, infections and deaths recorded.
Information from both online and print media reports on COVID-19 has been continuously used to address our challenges. Some of such reports however come from unreliable and unverified sources as such does little or not in the steady increase in COVID-19 cases especially within our communities.
Faced with this reality, can we predict the pattern of the second wave, given what we know about the first wave? The simple answer is no.
However we must be proactive about preventive measures in the country include hand washing, use of sanitizers, wearing of face masks and social distancing.
Citizens should also be deliberate in addressing factors that undermined government preventive efforts in enforcing poor compliance attitude, selective obedience, social media interference, misconceptions and myths, stigmatization, fear, inadequate health facilities, and distrust for government. There is a need to ameliorate the adverse effects of COVID-19 misconceptions and myths through evidence-based campaigns using all sources of information of which we as citizens must be front drivers as Allies Battling Corona.
#TogetherAgainstCorona #AlliesBattlingCorona
By Matthew Tegha
