Epidemiological Assessment and Challenges of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Nigeria

The COVID-19 which belongs to the coronaviridae family has continued to spread in a geometric progression version. The disease that originated from Wuhan, Hubei, China has spread to all the continents of the World except Antarctica continent. As of the 5th of August, 2020 there are over 18 million reported cases of COVID-19 from 214 countries and territories of the world. More than 10 million people have recovered while approximately 696,147 people have died due to COVID-19. This review provides general information on the COVID-19 and gives deep insight into the course of the disease, interventions challenges and possible solutions in Nigeria “the giant of Africa”.

Scientific databases including Science Direct, Pub Med, Elsevier, Scopus, and Nature were explored. Data has also been accessed from case reports, newspaper reports, internet data, World Health Organisation (WHO) reports, Centre of Disease Control (CDCs) and Nigerian Centre of Disease Control (NCDCs) reports. US National Library of Medicine, Clinicaltrials.gov, has been accessed to get information about ongoing clinical trials. The literature survey started in the first week of April, 2020 and was completed in the first week of August, 2020. The clinical symptoms of COVID-19 patients are generally categorized as critical, severe, moderate and mild or even asymptomatic in descending order in terms of severity. Predictions from experts in different parts of the World concerning the possible impact of the disease in Africa have been on the downside which is due to a lot of glaring factors including poor health facilities and services.