Babafemi A. Badejo, Ph.D
Covid-19 and Mallam Abba Kyari
Its family name is Coronavirus. Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), gave its first name as Covid-19. The name is realized from an amalgamation of letters “co” from corona; “vi” from virus and letter “d” from disease. And since the assumption was that the mutation from bat to human or if you like from a lab (I hesitate to say which lab as we do not know many things as at today), took place in 2019, the last two figures of the year got added. Voila, Covid-19!
Today, knowledge on the index case on planet Earth is less crucial in comparison to finding ameliorative life-saving answers. Viruses have always lived with human beings and unlike bacteria, humans have not found ways to cure viruses with exception of vaccines to incapacitate them. The immune system naturally fights off viruses. Opportunistic diseases kill when viruses attack humans and the immune system meant to fight diseases is compromised hence unable to fight it off. Cor Covid-19, a vaccine is being sought but probably not realizable until 12 months from now at the earliest.