The Implications of Misconceptions about Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Pandemic in Relation to its Daily Increases from Nigerian Perspective

Abstract

The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic in the world especially in African continent and Nigeria in particular has created negative effects on humanity. Continuous holding on to some misconceptions about the reality of the virus among people may create further problems for humankind. However, very few studies particularly in Nigeria have actually considered the implications of these misconceptions about the disease in relation to its daily increases; coupled with the fact that many people still hold on to some of these misconceptions in the country. Therefore, this study examined the implications of some common misconceptions among people about COVID-19 pandemic in relation to its daily increases in Nigeria. This study has documented some of the most common misconceptions about COVID-19 pandemic among few individual persons-both male and female in a neighbourhood area of Ibadan in southwestern Nigeria. These include: "it is a white people disease"; "it is an imported disease"; "it is the disease of the wealthy people"; "incessant heat in Nigerian environment will destroy the disease (i.e. hot weather)"; "poor people cannot contract it"; "maintaining physical distancing practice is unnecessary"; "taking local herbs will destroy it"; "taking hot drinks (local gins) will destroy it"; "wearing of face masks is not necessary"; etc. both in rural and urban areas. Daily increase in the cases and fatalities of the virus in the country has been suggested in this study to be as a result of tenaciously holding on to these belief-systems among people. Virtually, all sectors in the country such as health, economy, transportation, agriculture, education, security, politics, religion, family, sport, entertainment, etc. have been seriously affected and still being threatened by the virus. Consequently, the negative impacts have been enormous on people' jobs/works, businesses, family life and social relations thus creating more harms than benefits. Therefore, positive change in people' health-related behaviours becomes imperative through effective and active public enlightenment and awareness creation with strict compliance to the prescribed preventive measures being put in place by the key stakeholders regarding the virus. This will go a long way in influencing positive health-related behaviours among people, getting rid of some misconceptions about the disease that may trigger larger community transmissions as the efforts to discover new vaccines or drugs for COVID-19 pandemic treatment continue.

Community’s misconception about COVID-19 and its associated factors in Satkhira, Bangladesh: A cross-sectional study

“…human-created biological weapon for political reason [39]. Similar findings were reported across the world, including America, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Nepal, Ghana, Uganda and Pakistan [8,10,32,34,[40][41][42][43][44].…”

“…It was then back translated into English by independent translators to make sure the original meaning was retained. The questionnaire was developed based on relevant previous research in Bangladesh and other low-income countries [4,6,22,23,34,35]. Two rounds of pre-testing were conducted, and misunderstood questions were revised before finalizing the questionnaire.…”

Community’s misconception about COVID-19 and its associated factors: Evidence from a cross-sectional study in Bangladesh

“…Moreover, though it is established that COVID-19 is spill over infection and not a human made (laboratory generated) output [35][36][37], however, another common misconception is that this virus is human created biological weapons for international politics [38]. Similar findings were reported across the world, including America [9,39], Saudi Arabia [31] Nigeria [33,40], Nepal [7], Ghana [41], Uganda [42] and Pakistan [43].…”

“…It was then back translated into English, to make sure the original meaning was retained. The questionnaire was developed based in the evidence of relevant research in Bangladesh and other developing countries [3,5,21,22,33,34]. Two rounds of pre-testing were conducted, and inaccuracies and misunderstood questions were revised before the final data collection.…”

Perceived Risks and Ramifications of the COVID-19 Pandemic by Community and Healthcare Providers in Nepal

“…The accurate information shared through media plays a critical role in shaping people's perceptions towards risk of contracting diseases [33], however misconceptions rooted in the community became a barrier to understanding the science [34]. Obviously, these misconceptions might have both serious medical and social consequences for the people [35], and sustaining or continuing with these types of conceptions will go a long way for COVID-19 in creating more harms than benefits [35,36].…”