The Spread of COVID-19 in Nigeria: The Influence of Transportation and Economic Zones

Abstract

The novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) now known as Covid-19 was first detected in the city of Wuhan, China in December 2019. The disease rapidly spread to other cities in China and to other parts of the world. The aim of this study is to investigate the contribution which the economic zones and movement of people into the country and from city to city and State to State within the country have on the spread of the disease in Nigeria. Data of the daily update of Covid-19 occurrence in Nigeria as given by the NCDC Covid-19 Situation report were assembled. The data of the first index in each State between February 27 and March 28, 2020 with the status of whether they were from foreign travel or from within the community was compiled. The results show that economic zones and human movement contribute to the early spread of the disease. The initial spatial spread in Nigeria was observed to follow closely behind the test laboratory distribution pattern. This may suggest that samples from the locations far from the laboratories were not obtained, hence the suggestion for early aggressive country-wide-large scale testing to cover almost everyone should be started very early before the spread is everywhere. The test labs should cover the whole country with the tests made free and mandatory to encourage and force people to come out for it and the restriction protocols should strictly be adhered to. The boarders of the country should be closed early to stop further import of the disease from the high risk countries. When the airports are later re-opened, they should not be to the high-risk countries of the disease. There is also a need for a national policy on responding to and managing any future public health crisis such as Covid-19 pandemic before its occurrence. This policy will help the government to know what to start doing quickly when there is any occurrence. Government should also look inward to mobilize the scientists inside the country by providing research grants purposely to combat the pandemic. Such grants will enable our scientists to make their contribution in addition to the ones made by the scientists outside the country.