Mary Njoku, a Nollywood actress and film producer, says Africans should cultivate the habit of revealing their COVID-19 status when infected with the novel disease.
In an Instagram post on Monday, the movie star cum entrepreneur faulted the perceived discrimination against those who have the disease by other members of the society.
She also enjoined people to stop seeing COVID-19 as a family secret, stressing the need for more awareness about those infected.
According to the director of ROK Studios, a Lagos-based filmhouse, the spread of the disease would reduce in the continent when people start opening up when infected.
The 35-year-old said it was about time some Africans also ditch the mentality that COVID-19 is spiritual, explaining that such beliefs would only stifle efforts to combat the virus.
“Dear Africans, COVID-19 is not a family secret. If you’re infected, telling everyone you have been in contact with will not reduce your chances of getting better. God bless you as you do so,” she wrote.
“Coronavirus isn’t spiritual, it is beyond your village people. So don’t be afraid to let people know you had or still have it.
Save lives!”
Her comment comes amid several theories that have been trailing the emergence of the killer virus.
It also comes about two months after Jason Njoku, her husband and CEO of IrokoTV, was discharged from the hospital after contracting the virus.
According to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), the country has a total of 110,387 confirmed cases of the virus while 1,435 people have been killed as of the time of filing this report.
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