This Is When CoronaVirus Lockdown Will END
When Will The Novel Coronavirus Pandemic Be Over?
Coronavirus: When will the outbreak end and life get back to norma
Nigerian government have extended coronavirus lockdown in key cities for two more weeks
The new coronavirus has spread significantly worldwide since it first emerged in China in December 2019, making it a global pandemic, per the World Health Organization (WHO).
There are over 1,353,361 confirmed positive cases (and counting) of COVID-19 around the globe, according to the WHO . As countries and cities continue to enforce social distancing , encourage self-isolation policies, and postpone major events (including the Olympics !), one question is likely on your mind a lot : When will this pandemic actually end? The short answer is, no one can say for certain.
But infectious disease specialists and researchers have some thoughts to help put this global health situation into perspective.
How long will people be dealing with the novel coronavirus in the U.S. and around the world?
Honestly, it’s impossible to say if and when the coronavirus will die down because it’s a totally new virus, and therefore unpredictable, says Faheem Younus , MD, the chief of infectious diseases at University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Health. But pandemics have happened before, and they eventually pass as they become more contained, and as vaccines are developed and distributed . But researchers do look at past pandemics to make very baseline predictions about when it might end.
And in the past, pandemics have typically lasted between 12 and 36 months. Here’s one example of the timeline of a past pandemic: In 2009, a novel H1N1 flu pandemic occurred. (Remember swine flu?) The WHO declared a pandemic that June , and by mid- September, the FDA approved four vaccines for the virus, and they started getting administered in October.
In late December, vaccination was opened up to anyone who wanted it, and the pandemic was deemed over in August 2010, according to a timeline from the CDC .
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has announced a 14-day extension to a lockdown in Lagos, Abuja and Ogun states to combat the coronavirus pandemic .
In a televised address on Monday, Buhari said “it has become necessary to extend the current restriction of movement” that was set to expire later in the day.
Initial 14-day lockdowns in the three areas began on March 30. There are currently 323 confirmed cases of the virus in Nigeria , with 71 percent of them registered in Lagos and the capital territory of Abuja. Ten people have died so far.
“It is a matter of life and death,” Buhari said of the nation’s response. “The repercussions of any premature end to the lockdown action are unimaginable.”
Economic hardship in Nigeria
With 200 million people, is Africa’s most populous nation. Some 20 million reside in the megacity of Lagos.
Health experts have raised alarms over the impact of a major coronavirus outbreak, warning that the country’s unprepared and underfunded healthcare system could quickly become overwhelmed.
The extension of the lockdown is expected to add to the hardship of millions of Nigerians living hand-to-mouth, often on less than one dollar a day. Buhari said he was “fully aware of the great difficulties experienced especially by those who earn a daily wage”. “But despite these realities, we must not change the restrictions,” he added. The government has pledged a series of support measures to ease the financial pain for the most vulnerable, but there have been widespread complaints that not enough is being done for those facing hunger. “The vast majority of Nigerians depend on daily wages, they have to go out to get money and buy food to put it on the table for their families,” Al Jazeera’s Ahmed Idris, reporting from the capital, Abuja, said. “For the next two weeks, they are going to stay at home with no work and no chance of getting money.” Meanwhile, police said on Monday that they were bolstering forces in Lagos and Ogun after almost 200 suspects were arrested amid fears of a spike in crime during the lockdown. Buhari said compliance with the stay-at-home order and other restrictions introduced by state governors across the country had been “generally good”. But he cautioned that “a large proportion of new infections are now occurring in our communities”.