For a while, many Africans were hopeful that Africa could be spared from the pain of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, named SARS-CoV-2. But it does not seem like that will happen – as cases of COVID-19 have now spread across 46 out of 54 countries on the continent.

Hence, many low- and middle-income countries that are now seeing the arrival of the pandemic, including Nigeria are facing grim decisions. For instance, Nigeria`s health systems are much too weak to handle an explosion of COVID-19, consequently the government recently announced a 2-weeks lockdown in three states in Nigeria including Abuja, Ogun, and Lagos – the epicenter of the disease – as part of efforts to curb the spread of the disease  and flatten the curve of the infection.

However, following the imposition of lockdown across states in the Nigeria, some people believe that such measures will do more harm than good.

To defeat the coronavirus pandemic, we must make the right decisions informed by science, even though they might tough.  The guidelines as adopted by WHO are standard measures in the fight against the novel coronavirus. These measures are aimed at breaking the viral transmission chain of infection. A chain of transmission refers to a path that a pathogen (virus) takes to enter the human system and can be transmitted from an individual to another.

Some of the critical steps to know about viral transmission are:

1. The infection agent (e.g. COVID-19)

2. Reservoir of the infection agent (e.g. human)

3. Point of exit (e.g. mouth)

4. Mode of transmission (e.g. droplets)

5. Point of entry (mouth, nose)

6. Susceptible host