Following the outbreak of coronavirus in Wuhan, China, several news items and videos flooded the media, especially social media, depicting the severity of the virus. The spread of the disease to several countries across the world heightened fears.
And when on the 28th of February, Nigeria confirmed its first case of the disease, which was an Italian, who visited the country for work, Nigerians anxiety increased with so many dreading a trip outside the country.
The fear was such that anyone with flu is suspected of having the virus. The discovery of the disease also led to the panic buying of face masks and hand sanitizers, while supermarkets hiked prices of the commodities.
So, it was not surprising when my friends and family expressed concern when I broke the news that I was travelling out of the country. The first remark I got was, ‘‘I hope it is not China,’’ of course not, I replied, then the next comment was, “Have you bought a mask and hand sanitizer?”
Though I did not see the need to buy the mask, I was forced to do so by several people who insisted that I purchased one. I then bought a mask for N200 and a small bottle of sanitizer, usually sold for N300 for N1000, a night before I travelled.
As I drove to the airport the next morning, I was prepared to face serious scrutiny by health officials based on reports that the country was prepared to tackle the virus.
But on getting to the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport, Abuja, everything was normal. Life was going on as usual. The routine of presenting your passport, checking the bag and boarding the aircraft remained the same.
When I boarded the Air Côte d’Ivoire to Sierra Leone via Abidjan, nobody in the aircraft was sighted with a mask, from the flight attendants to passengers, so I had to put mine in my handbag.
As we approached our destination, we were handed a health form to fill. On arrival at Abidjan, as we alighted the shuttle bus, we formed a queue, where we washed our hands with soap and used sanitizer. This we did before gaining entrance into the airport building.
After we washed our hands, they collected the health form issued inside the aircraft and we were tested. On seeing the effort of the health officials at Abidjan, I was worried about what I saw at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport.
Then I thought, maybe we didn’t go through that in Nigeria, because we were going out of the country; possibly on our return we will be subjected to the same, if not stiffer checks.
When we arrived at Freetown Airport, the same check was carried out; we washed our hands, used sanitizer and submitted our health forms and our temperature was checked. It was the same at the hotel, where I lodged, though, this time, we were not made to wash our hands.
Côte d’Ivoire and Sierra Leone were yet to record any case at that time, but you could feel the tension each time the virus was mentioned or anyone coughed or sneezed. I was also cautious about my relationship with the Europeans. I remember widening the space between myself and a Chinese man, who was ahead of me on a queue so much so that those behind me complained.
I was not alone in this, I observed that some persons changed seats because of the skin colour of co-passengers. A woman stopped her child from sitting beside a white man. Since the aircraft was not fully occupied, people had the luxury of changing seats.
On my return, I observed that Freetown had beefed up its checks following the announcement that Senegal and South Africa had confirmed cases. They increased the number of security personnel at the gate, who ensured that irrespective of status, people washed their hands while the security personally put the hand sanitizer into the palms of travellers, before the bus was allowed into the premises.
As we picked our luggage and headed into the airport building, we were subjected to another round of hand washing and sanitizing before we got in.
While returning to Abuja, I travelled via Ghana, with African World Airline. The measures were the same, filling health form, washing of hands and using sanitizer before going into the building. Once in, I was examined before checking-in and boarding.
In Accra, they kept making announcements at intervals for passengers to comply with the necessary checks.
With all the hype by Nigeria’s Minister of Health on how they were ready to contain the disease, I was confident that things would have changed on my arrival. But touching ground at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, at a few minutes past 10pm, I was disappointed. There was no improvement in the checks and screening.
There was no water and soap to wash the hands. Only two health officers were sighted wearing masks; the one who collected our health forms and the one who inspected our Yellow Cards.
I then got to the immigration post, indeed there was a bottle of hand sanitizer there, but no one cared if it was used or not. I applied some on my palms and exited the airport.
While on my trip back to my house, I was worried of what the next couple of weeks held for the country if efforts were not stepped up to screen people coming into the country.
