As cases of the Coronavirus pandemic continues to rise in Nigeria and other parts of the world, a development economist and governance expert, Dr Chiwuike Uba, has warned that the situation will continue to deteriorate if government does not apply stringent measures to tackle the pandemic head on.

In a statement made available to the media in Enugu, Uba, who is the board chairman of the Amaka Chiwuike-Uba Foundation (ACUF), said that the confirmed cases in Nigeria may rise up to 5,000 before the end of this month, except if the Federal Government deploys more resources to contact tracing and isolation.

He also advised asthma patients to take extra precautions to avoid contracting the virus by maintaining stricter social and physical distancing and speaking with their doctor about improving their asthma control as soon as possible, even as he advised asthma patients to keep taking their medications as prescribed on daily basis.

He said: "By April 1, we have recorded 151 confirmed cases of Coronavirus in Nigeria, with two confirmed deaths. While the lockdown on business activities and other measures undertaken by federal and state governments are commendable, the government should deploy more resources to contact tracing and isolation. This is very critical to avoid the confirmed cases in Nigeria from rising to up to 5,000 before the end of this month.

“Nigeria may eventually be confronting the ‘epidemiological pandemic’ if this pandemic gets to the poorest of the people. The country has a housing deficit and currently, in some areas, more than six persons live and sleep in one room. Evidently, the order to stay indoors, without providing palliatives and/relief materials to over 90 million Nigerians living in extreme poverty, indicates the insensitivity of governments to the pains of Nigerians.”

He added: “Clearly, as a country, we failed to deploy the lessons learned during the Ebola crisis in 2014 to rebuild the health sector. No real genuine efforts were made to fix the poor and broken health care system in Nigeria.

“We recommend that part of the funds donated by individuals and corporate organizations to support the fight against COVID-19 should be used to build and equip more would class hospitals and diagnostic centers across the country; at least one in each state of the federation.

“Those with asthma should maintain stricter social and physical distancing and speak with their doctor about improving their asthma control as soon as possible. To reduce their risk of asthma symptoms during this period, we advise those with asthma to keep taking their medications. It can be a good way of tracking their asthma and helping to tell the difference between asthma symptoms and COVID-19 symptoms.”

The Amaka Chiwuike-Uba Foundation (ACUF) was found in 2016 in memory of Mrs. Amaka Chiwuike-Uba, who died from asthma complication in July 2016. Foundation’s mission is to improve the quality of life of people; especially, helping those with asthma and other respiratory diseases live a better life and envisions a society with better breathing, better living, and a happier, united and prosperous people. In line with the Foundation’s mission, it has held many sensitisation workshops and enlightenment programmes for asthma patients and youth development and leadership workshop series (YouDaL) across the country.