Nigeria becomes the first country to be commended by WHO for the fight against coronavirus

While big countries like CHINA, US, UK, ITALY and others are battling to control the spread of coronavirus, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has commended the Nigerian government on measures taken to contain the spread of coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, in the country.

Mr Adhanom who stressed that containment starts with every individual; further revealed that the greatest enemy right now is not the virus itself, but fear, rumours, and stigma. Adding that “our greatest assets are facts, reason, and solidarity”.



This is coming weeks after some scientist (epidemiologist) predicted that coronavirus "will ultimately not be containable" and, within a year, will infect somewhere between 40 and 70 percent of humanity, but many of those people, won't have severe illnesses or even show symptoms at all, which is already the case for many people who have tested positive for the virus; Countries around the world are now scrambling to contain the rapidly spreading new coronavirus, as the number of new infections outside China exceeded those recorded inside the country since the start of the viral outbreak.

The Director-General of the United Nations health agency, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, recognised the government’s effort in a tweet on Saturday.


He also thanked the Nigeria Centre For Disease Control (NCDC) for its efforts since the index case of the virus was reported late February.

Ghebreyesus noted that Nigeria was swift and transparent in the manner it shared the sequence of coronavirus from the country’s first case.






“This a true act of solidarity and an important step in stopping the coronavirus from spreading further,” he said.

The remarks by the health agency’s director-general was in reaction to an earlier tweet by the NCDC that Nigeria has published the first African SARS-CoV-2 genome sequence, from coronavirus.






His tweet did not go unnoticed as the Director-General of NCDC, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, thanked the Ethiopian for recognising the efforts of the Federal Government and others fighting the virus in the country.

Ihekweazu, however, noted that the nation still has “a long journey ahead” in ensuring that the people of the country were protected from the virus and similar diseases.