PHOTOS: Nigerian student volunteers to combat coronavirus in China

Olatoye Babatunde, a Nigerian student in China, has reportedly volunteered to partake in ongoing efforts towards combating the coronavirus in the Asian country.

Coronavirus has killed at least 2,224, infected a staggering 76,775 people, and spread to about 28 countries across the globe, ever since the zoonotic disease broke out in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

Babatunde, 24, was said to have volunteered after deciding he could contribute his little part, having been touched by the efforts of medical workers who fight against the disease at the frontline.

According to Ecns, Babatunde, who lives within East China’s Jiangsu province, helps record the travel information of residents of the community and takes their temperatures in Nanjing.

Ever since he started his volunteering on February 6, pictures of him going about his duties amidst kitted Chinese medical experts have been making the rounds on social media.

“I was scared. Countless cases were piling up on the desks, and every single doctor was wearing protective clothes, something I’d never seen before,” the young volunteer was quoted to have said.

According to reports, Babatunde had suspected he caught the virus on January 21, after he started running a fever and could not finish his dinner on account of feeling weak.

However, doctors had dismissed his cases as a minor one, advising that he goes home, only for the pain to deteriorate, with some members of his family later showing symptoms of the disease.

Babatunde’s test results were negative as Chinese medical experts warned of the possibility that uninfected people may suffer the paranoia that accompanies the fear of contracting the disease.

TheCable had earlier reported that Lai Mohammed, Nigeria’s minister for information, said citizens in Wuhan, a Chinese city where the virus is more prevalent, were unwilling to return home.

Kem Daryl, Africa’s first coronavirus patient, who was in the Chinese city of Jingzhou during the outbreak, said he decided to remain in the Asian to avoid bringing the disease into the continent.

Amid the scramble for vaccines, clinical evidence recently suggested that Chloroquine Phosphate, a widely-used antimalarial and autoimmune disease drug, can be effective in tackling the disease.

Coronavirus has been confirmed in Singapore, UK, Malaysia, Taiwan, Spain, Vietnam, Germany, UAE, France, Japan, with the World Health Organisation declaring a global emergency.

Other countries where cases of the disease have been reported are Thailand, Canada, Australia, Italy, Russia, Sweden, Finland, Cambodia, and the United States.

Photo credit: (China News Service/ Yang Bo)