CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of Study

COVID-19 is a respiratory disease that was first identified in December 2019 in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province in the people’s republic of China.1 It is caused by SARS-CoV-2 and was said to have emerged from a livestock market in the city of Wuhan in December 2019. The first case of COVID-19 in Nigeria was discovered on the 27th February 2020, when an Italian in Lagos tested positive for the virus. Since then, the number of cases has steadily increased in Nigeria. The WHO declared COVID-19 a global pandemic on the 11th March 2020 (Shigemura, Ursano and Benedek, 2020). The case fatality rate in Nigeria is presently 1.2% of the total confirmed cases with 82% recovery rate, while the prevalence is 12.2%. (Coronatracker, 2020; Amzat, Aminu, Kolo, Akinyele, Ogundairo and Danjibo, 2020).There is presently no widely accepted or recommended treatment modality for COVID-19. The recommendations of various disease control institutions are geared towards disease prevention in order to control the spread and reduce the burden on healthcare system. Many drugs have been tried for the treatment of COVID-19. These drugs include hydroxychloroquine, chloroquine, azithromycin, ivermectin, doxycycline, cotrimoxazole, remdesivir, ulinastatin and colchicine, but none has been unanimously recommended for the treatment of COVID19. An inhaler was recently tried in Israel and said to have an efficacy of 96% (WorldTopNews, 2020). The device is based on exosomes enriched in CD24 that is inhaled directly into the lungs and capable of clearing the virus within 5 days of use. Clinical trials are still ongoing (WorldTopNews, 2020).Since there is presently no widely recommended effective treatment for COVID-19, vaccination is the biggest hope for the control of the COVID-19 pandemic. Vaccination has been effective in the prevention of infectious diseases thereby reducing associated morbidity and mortality. It is the mainstay of prevention and control of infectious diseases. However, the success of vaccination against COVID-19 will be largely dependent on the willingness of the general populace to accept and receive the vaccine and the subsequent development of herd immunity (SSRN, 2020).

1. 1. This material content is developed to serve as a GUIDE for students to conduct academic research work
2. 2. As a source for additional understanding of the subject.
3. 3. As a source for ideas for your own research work (if properly referenced).
4. 4. For PROPER paraphrasing (see your university definition of plagiarism and acceptable paraphrase)
5. 5. Direct citing (if referenced properly)
Thank you so much for your respect to the authors copyright.