Containing Spread, Cure of Covid-19 : Local Expertise Worth Maximising

As Cameroon, like other countries across the globe hit by the dangerous Coronavirus, battle to halt the spread of the pandemic, nothing can and should be left to chance, the least of which is not even local expertise. Cognisant of the fact that the number of affected cases keeps surging at almost geometric proportion, moving from one to over 500 in a space of three weeks, no human endeavour can be neglected. The country’s brains have proven that, ‘Yes, They Can!’
As a matter of fact, several Cameroonian scientists have constituted themselves into groups, mutualising their human and financial resources to attempt putting a stop to the virus. In effect, students of the University Institute of Technology of the University of Douala last week put their heads and hands together to produce disinfectants which are said to be on the market at moment. Like the students of Douala, a group of youth under the canopy of, “Local Youth Corner” on April 1, 2020 donated over 4,000 locally-produced hand sanitizers to other youth across the country through the Ministry of Youth and Civic Education. Though not mediatised, other initiatives have also come from some science teachers in schools in Yaounde who have produced hand sanitizers for use within and without their groupings. 
As initiatives galore in the production and use of locally-made hand purifiers, assurances from the Yaounde Institute of Medical Research and Medicinal Plants Studies (IMPM) that it can carry out massive test and rapidly produce thousands of Chloroquine tablets in just a minute, are heart-soothing. That the Institute can carry out about 2,000 tests daily and produce 6,000 molecules of Hydroxychloroquine; a drug widely used in the treatment of the pandemic speak of  a non-negligible local expertise that can be maximised to contain the spread and cushion th...