The Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions to Control the Spread of Covid-19

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic is considered the most crucial global health problem of the 21st century and the greatest challenge that affects humans globally. In late December 2019, a new infectious respiratory disease emerged from Wuhan city of Hubei province in China. Since then, it has since spread around the world, thus declared a pandemic on 11th March 2020 by the World Health Organisation. The outbreak of the novel coronavirus has become a clinical threat to the common population and healthcare workers worldwide. The intensity and speed with which it struck were almost unimaginable as it turns out to have infected over 327,793,472 people and caused more than 5,539,108 deaths globally as of the 17th of January 2022. Likewise, in Nigeria, as of 17th of January 2022; 250,929 confirmed cases, 3,103 deaths, and 224,052 recovered had been reported by NCDC, 2022. At the time of writing this review, no approved antiviral chemotherapy is available instead, use of some recommended vaccines by WHO. Therefore, nonpharmaceutical interventions are adopted by the national government as possible preventive measures to mitigate the spread of the virus globally. These measures include total lockdown, wearing of face mask in public, regular handwashing with soap and water, use of alcohol-based hand sanitizers, maintaining social and physical distance and coughing or sneezing into the elbow, and general enlightenment.