Preventive Measures Adopted Against Spread of Coronavirus Disease by Katsina State Government, Nigeria

Abstract

Coronavirus is a new respiratory disease that broke out in China in the year 2019 and has since spread across different countries of the world. The World Health Organization declared coronavirus outbreak as a public health emergency of international concern and a pandemic in view of the rapid spread and geographical coverage among others. In Africa, the virus has spread to virtually all the countries of the continent in the first quarter of the year 2020. The infections of the disease in Nigeria started towards the end of the month of February 2020 in Lagos and it has spread to different states of the federation. This paper assesses the preventive measures adopted against the spread of coronavirus by Katsina State Government. Direct observational techniques were used to carefully observe the situation to generate data for the research. In addition, field visits were made around the state capital and other areas assess the level of compliance by the public to the preventive measures that were directed by the State Government. The results have shown that the state has adopted several measures before and during the cases of the disease infections in the state. These measures include the closure of inter-state borders, closure of schools and institutions of higher learning, closure of weekly markets, the formation of taskforce and rapid response committee, directives to the public and business owners, and the imposition of lockdown order on the public, creation of mobile courts among others. These measures have succeeded in reducing the spread of the disease, as the state moved down from the fourth most infected state in April to twelfths by mid-June 2020. It is, therefore, recommended that the measures adopted should be continued and emphasized in responding to disease outbreaks in the state.