Douala : Rush For Foodstuff Intensifies

Despite government’s debunking of rumours of an imminent complete lockdown, inhabitants of the economic capital, Douala are stocking food in their houses. Some people are beginning to stock bags of rice, cooking oil and other foodstuffs that could sustain them throughout the period of the much more rumoured lockdown. Even before the rumour of an eventual complete lockdown, some people had started stocking food in their houses so as to respect social distancing by limiting their outings to the market.
While those who can afford it are stocking their houses, the have-nots as panic-stricken questioning what they will be eating in case there is a complete lockdown since they lead a hand to mouth life. Some are already requesting government to put in place measures to alleviate the suffering of the people and losses in business owing to the corona virus outbreak. Besides preparing for an imminent lockdown, people are also thinking of what to do in case of infection by the virus. The social media is awash with traditional treatment methods which have purportedly worked elsewhere. Some say putting aloe-vera in water and drinking every morning, treats the disease while they say eating bitter cola, bitter-leaf and fever grass cannot only prevent the disease but also cure it. Others talk of garlic, ginger and lemon as possibl...