As China and the rest of the world put in last minute efforts to tackle the emerging epidemic called Coronavirus which is highly contagious and has already killed 25 people in less than a week while hundreds are hospitalized, investigations show that African countries seem oblivious of the dangers posed by this health challenge. It is even more worrying by the fact that Africa today play host to thousands of Chinese businessmen, tourists, and engineers working at various constructions across the continent. Frequent travelers can attest to the huge number of passengers from China both native Chinese and non Chinese arriving different African countries, yet policy makers, and government agencies are yet to wake up to this impending catastrophe.

Read also:Start-ups shouldn’t be pushed to profitability too early, says CEO of China fund

Though the Coronavirus is still in its infancy, Chinese authorities are leaving no stone upturned to tackle it headlong, the country achieved what many described as the eighth wonder of the world by constructing a special purpose 1000 bed hospital dedicated for the coronavirus at the epicenter Wuhan, China. The authorities are of the view that there would be an explosion in infection with the mass traveling across the country as a result of the Chinese New Year celebration, so they are expecting a worst case scenario.

Read also:Transsion, Africa’s top mobile phone seller On Its IPO In China

As part of efforts aimed at containing and tackling the spread of the virus, the city of Wuhan which has about 11 million inhabitants has been locked down. There is no way into or out of Wuhan. No trains, no flights, no buses and the indications were that road access was also being closed. And this is coming at a very bad time in the Chinese calendar, the Chinese New Year, when many millions of people are on the move, travelling to be with loved ones in other parts of the country — shows just how big a deal it is. China has already expanded restrictions to two nearby cities, Ezhou and Huanggang.

But the story coming out of Africa is that of nonchalance. No international airport in sub Saharan Africa has set up an emergency centre for the Coronavirus and none has updated information on modes of transmission and what other countries such as the United States where one patient has already been diagnosed with the disease are doing to contain a likely outbreak. Sources say that neighbouring countries such as South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan and Japan are already feeling the effect of the virus. But from Lagos to Abuja, Nairobi to Dar es Salam, Accra to Freetown, Younde to Dakar, and the story is the same, government agencies in the dark of what to expect from the Coronavirus. Africa is completely in the dark.

Even though the World Health Organisation (WHO) is yet to proclaim it a global emergency, there is a lot of apprehension across the world. But more worrisome is Africa where the scientific know-how and probably the funding to tackle such exotic disease is clearly lacking.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry