Editorial: The Rise Of COVID-19 Cases In Southeast

From June 3rd -10th, 2020, the total number of COVID-19 cases in Southeast jumped from 123 to 413, which showed a 235.8% increase in previous cases. In fact, on 7th and 9th June 2020, all the Southeastern states, except for Enugu, recorded a total number of 95 and 76 cases, respectively. Inasmuch as the total number of cases in Southeast is the lowest among other regions in Nigeria, the cases represent 2.98% as against 52.40% from Southwest, 17.04 from Northwest, while the remaining 27.59% came from South-South, FCT, Northeast, and Northcentral.

Although the numbers from Southeast as shown above is the lowest in Nigeria extra vigilance should be taken especially now that governors and highly placed public officials are getting the dreaded virus. It became so bad in Ebonyi State that the government had to shut all government offices to halt the spread of the virus.

From the time COVID-19 pandemonium started in Nigeria, Southeast did not experience any instant effects and deaths from the virus, apart from the mandatory lockdown, and stay at home. This might be because the region is hundreds of miles away from Lagos, which is the epicentre of COVID-19 in Nigeria. Also, the last time Nigeria experienced paranoia from a killer virus was in 2014, when Ebola bared its fangs. Southeast and many parts of Nigeria were shielded from the virus and did not record any case.

However, the non-prevalence of virus outbreaks in Southeast, except few cases of Lassa Fever, had made the region unprepared to face the onslaught of virus outbreaks. A few weeks after COVID-19 came to our shores, it was only Ebonyi State that had a Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) accredited molecular lab. Fortunately, all the Southeast states except Abia have a functioning NCDC accredited molecular lab, the lab in Abia State is still in the accreditation process.

This is a wake up for the governors to take the issue of public health seriously. Playing hide and seek does not strengthen the fight against diseases and virus outbreaks, rather it exposes the weakness of the public health system when there is a catastrophe, as in the case of Gov Okezie Ikpeazu that ran to Abuja to get treatment after testing positive for COVID-19. This came after boasting that Abia is covered from COVID-19 onslaught because it is the only state in Nigeria that was mentioned in the Bible. Irony!