The COVID-19 Era: Myths and Realities in the Ethiopian Context
Journal Title: Public Health Open Access - Year 2021, Vol 5, Issue 1
Abstract
Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) is a viral infection caused by the new strain of Coronavirus called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV2) originated in December 2019 at the Chinese city of Wuhan. Since then, it has spread globally at an unprecedented scale and infected about 77,530,799 people, and killed 1,724,904 at its one year course. In Ethiopia, there have been 120,638 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 1,864 deaths on the same date. Trend on number of cases and deaths showed a remarkable seasonal rise blown since the start of summer with varying, but high number of attacks until to date. Following the WHO’s marking of COVID-19 as global public health threat, countries had placed diverse strategies to prevent manage the outbreak most of which are still on implementation. Following identification of the first confirmed case in March, the Ethiopian government placed multiple measures through a state of emergency to prevent the transmission of the virus. These included; lockdown, social distancing, hand washing practices, use of a sanitizer, wearing of face masks, limited number of people on public transportation loads, prohibiting public (mass) assemblies, and stay at home campaigns among others. Despite all these efforts, there was a considerable gap to retain an optimum practice of prevention methods attributed to a range of reasons. This, in turn, is leading to an increasing number of cases and mortalities over time. In this commentary, I forward my own reflection and observation in relation to common myths held among some opinion leaders and a significant segment of the society, which I believe, has impacted the way COVID-19 is evolving now. The myths will also be discussed in light with available facts documented in the literature.
Authors and Affiliations
Shimels T
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP755693
- DOI 10.23880/phoa-16000171
- Views 38
- Downloads 0
Study on Prevalence and Associated Risk Factors of Indigestible Foreign Bodies in Rumen and Reticulum of Cattle Slaughtered at Selected Districts of East Ararge Zone Municipal Abattoirs
Ingestion of indigestible foreign bodies by ruminants is becoming a common worldwide problem which is the associated with a shortage of feed as well as increased pollution of grazing lands with indigestible materials. A...
Health in Sudan: Challenges, Obstacles, and Proposed Solutions
This paper aims to examine the health sector in Sudan-a critical pillar that affects all other aspects of development, including education, economy, and production. Health is not merely a fundamental right of every citiz...
Distribution and Abundance of Dengue Vector(S) Mosquito and Their Breeding Preferences in Five Selected Administrative Wards of Dhaka North City Corporation, Bangladesh
Dengue fever (DF) and Dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF) is the most significant arising arboviral disease which is spread from dengue virus infection. Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus are the known vectors of dengue viru...
Exploring the Perspectives of Healthcare Professionals Concerning the Use and Utility of the Hospital Gown to Develop Theoretically Informed Behaviour Change Interventions
The tenets of dignity, safety and privacy are potentially challenged when patients are required to remove their own clothes and wear the hospital gown for medical procedures. This study adopted a mixed method analysis in...
The Double-Pandemic: COVID-19 and Seasonal Influenza during Winter 2020-2021 is an Expected Surprise
Given COVID-19 pandemic and seasonal influenza in winter 2020-2021 we describe the challenges, both medical and social, posed by the potential double-pandemic of diseases. We also provide practical strategies to cope wit...