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Every tongue confessed and every knee bowed. That coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is king of them all. It is the real mother of all diseases, illnesses, sicknesses and infirmities.
There has never been anything near this catastrophe in recent times. It dusted its forerunners, particularly Ebola, AIDS and Lassa fever, beating them to very distant positions. It did it with utmost precision and maximum damage.
It is still ravaging and rampaging. It stubbornly refused to be appeased. All the global appeals and efforts have fallen on its deaf ears. The whole world is practically bleeding.
It sneaked into planet earth almost unnoticed. COVID-19’s first port of call was faraway China. There it launched itself in Wuhan, Hubei Province. The first reported case was on December 31, 2019. What a tragic way to end a year!
Despite this, we refused to pay reasonable attention. We erroneously thought it was strictly a Chinese affair. The world was not prepared to be bothered. We believed it would end in the Asian country, since it started there anyway.
With that blurred mindset, non-Chinese carried on as if nothing happened. And the Chinese were dying in their hundreds. We did not care a hoot. We wickedly soldiered on; that they should be able to carry their cross all alone.
Exactly one month later, on January 31, 2020, it successfully landed in Western Europe. That was when Italy recorded two cases. We still stuck to our careless attitude. We waved those two cases aside as being accidental. How we goofed.
Earlier, on January 20, 2020, COVID-19 secretly flew into the United States of America. Yet, we still chose to remain in our deep slumber. Even the American leadership insisted then coronavirus was not yet a reality. They deceptively concluded it would soon fizzle out the manner it stumbled in.
All this while, China was painfully counting its dead in hundreds daily. Then the world began to pay some attention, but not showing the required concern. We were neither here nor there.
Just like a thunderbolt, all that changed. And things have not been the same. Since then, the situation has been under alarm and the centre cannot hold any longer.
There was an ugly turnaround for the worst in Italy. It began to record deaths in staggering figures every day; until its healthcare system reputed to be one of the best in world collapsed. Its Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte, was forced to look up to the “Sky” for help last week.
He cried bitterly to high heavens: “We have lost control we have killed the epidemic physically and mentally. Can’t understand what more we can do all solutions are exhausted on ground. Our only hope remains up in the Sky. God, rescue your people.”
By this time the whole world had fully woken up. We are all alert now. But it is damn too late. We are in deep shit already and only the God of Heavens can save the situation.
The ravine is greedily on the prowl and hell is let loose. It spares no country; no friend, no foe. COVID-19 is a biological weapon of mass destruction; the super-destroyer of the moment. This is more than a raving rave.
COVID-19 did not stop at that. It walked easily across the border to Italy’s neighbour, Spain. Instantly, it turned Spaniards into mere prey, feasting on them at will. The daily damage is enormous.
At the same time, it is dealing heavy blows on the USA. It made a beautiful mess of its famed healthcare system. That country has overtaken Italy and Spain in casualties within a short time. It is now worst hit country in the world. Its flagship, New York City, instantly follows suit as the worst hit city.
Thus, on March 11, 2020, COVID-19 ported. It dramatically moved up both in position and destruction. It was accorded its hard-earned promotion. The World Health Organisation’s boss, Dr. Tedros Adhanom, was manganous enough to announce the elevation of COVID-19. It ceased to be an endemic, that would belittle it. He dressed it in a new toga: pandemic.
And the stark and dreaded reality downed on us all. A pandemic frightens, very dreadful. It is an infectious disease with significant and ongoing person-to-person spread in multiple countries around the world at the same time. COVID-19 is a perfect fix of that box.
Coronavirus disease is not the first pandemic neither is it the worst. There were others before it. And two were astonishingly outstanding. They beat COVID-19 hollow in all departments.
The last pandemic came calling with swine flu. Its origin was Veracruz, Mexico, in Latin (South) America. Between January 2009 and August 2010 when it raged, it consumed 18,036 souls. Its disease was influenza.
Nearly a century before that, the world experienced its first recorded pandemic. It was known as the (Spanish) flu pandemic, being first reported in Spain. It lasted almost two years, between January 1918 and December 1920. This was clearly more than what the earth could swallow. It swept away close to 50 million lives in a the then world of 500 million people. It was graphically overwhelming.
Here in Africa, specifically in Nigeria, we had an erroneous belief. We were sure COVID-19 was not branded for us. We were still swimming in the pool of our acute ignorance until we were served our first dose on February 28, 2020.
This feat was accomplished by an Italian expatriate. His true identity is still shrouded in official secrecy till date, his recovery notwithstanding. Even at that, we were adamant and chose to remain and revel in our naivety and incognizance.
That is the huge price we are paying now. Since its unwelcome arrival, there is no stopping it. It is catching fire in the most unexpected places. Almost unrestrained. Everyone of them is getting the bug.
COVID-19 has rubbished all acclaimed technological feats of the West and the USA. It made their intelligence to run riot. Whatever happened to all the arms and ammunition strategically stockpiled by the so-called super powers?
What becomes of their flaunted powers? See how one of the minutest viruses is causing havoc heedlessly, unrestricted and unabated. And the almighty superpowers dare not shoot a gun!
And for us in this weird clime, it is a leveller. All of us are brought to ground zero. COVID-19 is not a respecter of any soul, power might and influence. We are all equal before its eyes.
This is not meant to celebrate anyone’s misfortunes. Far from it. It is inhuman. And it is un-African. We still have our cherished values intact. We have not lost manners, the few eerie mannerless “Marlians” in our midst notwithstanding.
Now, everybody is scared. All dread coronavirus disease. Who would not! Nigerians abroad are voluntarily deporting themselves and families home. They suddenly realise home is sweet. They did not even have the luxury of bringing back home our stolen money.
They cared less for us when they greedily looted our treasury. That is why we were greatly grieved when they returned hurriedly without our commonwealth. We badly need the money to confront, combat and curtail COVID-19.
Yes, this is another golden opportunity for us as a nation. We can turn this misfortune and calamity around positively. It is quite possible. We had one after our 30-month bloody Civil War. We selfishly messed it up. The feats from both sides were carelessly missed. The feats could have been the foundation of our technological development. No matter how crude then, they would have been fine-tuned and turned around positively. And to our greatest advantage.
All over the world, nations usually rise from their misfortunes. Ours should not be a sad exception. The pandemic will likely throw up some medical feats and discoveries even from our end. They must not slip away unexplored, unexploited.
COVID-19 has come and saw. It must not be allowed to conquer unharnessed. Let us get serious this time around.
