Nigeria must break the chain of the spread of COVID-19 in the country to avert the likely scenario of being the next epicentre of the pandemic due to her large population size.

Director-General, Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS), Dr Vincent Isegbe, gave the advice in a statement on Wednesday in Abuja by Dr Chigozie Nwodo, Head of Media, Communications and Strategies of the service.

Isegbe said, ‘’If there is one salient lesson that has emerged from the transmission pattern of this plague so far, it is that breaking the chain of spread is the most economical and sensible approach to containing the contagion.

‘’As a collective, it would be far cheaper for all Nigerians to make the sacrifice to hibernate for a while than for us to throw caution to the wind and walk with our eyes open into a monstrous public health crisis that we cannot recover from soon.

“Staying indoors is a reasonable trade-off to enabling the escalation of the attack rate of the virus,”.

The NAQS boss affirmed that if Nigerians would heed the directive of the Federal Government and the recommendation of the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) the country would have a relatively manageable caseload to contend with.

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He noted that the Federal Government and NCDC have directed the populace to stay indoors and venture out only to purchase essential commodities like food and medicine where it is absolutely necessary.

According to him, it is always easier and faster to flatten the curve if the number of infected is low.

Isegbe identified COVID-19 as the most perplexing public health challenge that the world has experienced in the last 100 years.

“It has overwhelmed the healthcare system of the most developed countries in the world.

“Nigeria happens to be a very populous country and we need not overwhelm the health facilities and personnel.

“We encourage you therefore, to stay at home, indoors and refrain from visiting anyone, not even within the neighbourhood “, Isegbe said.

NAN