Last week, Italy moved past China in the number of recorded coronavirus cases. At the current 7,503 deaths, the Mediterranean country has over 3, 719 fatalities more than China (3,281) even though it has a population of 60 million, about half the size of Wuhan, the Chinese city where the virus broke off from.

The number leaped with alarming speed in March, with Italians being responsible for the transmission of the pandemic to some other countries. Africa appeared safe in the beginning until recently when the number of infected persons in the continent started rising.

In Europe, Italy and Spain are the most infected countries with rising rates surmounting Chinese records. The speed of the spread in Europe has baffled scientists and health workers; some have attributed it to governments’ lax attitude in initiating a lockdown early enough in European countries. But there is more to it that’s just coming to light.

Scientists believe that the reason could be traced back to February when Atlanta hosted Valencia for a Champions League match. Thousands of fans gathered in the city of Bergamo from across Europe but especially Italy and Spain to view the match. Atlanta won Valencia 4-1 and both Italy and shared maximum impact of coronavirus as it spread through fans to the respective countries.

Both Italy and Spain have more than 80, 000 cases of infection with death toll surpassing 11,000. Bergamo is the most infected city in Europe with over 5,000 cases and 1,000 deaths. The city was reportedly conducting burials every 30 minutes, and army trucks are being used to convey dead bodies to the cemeteries.

Immunologist professor Francesco Le Foche said the surge must have been triggered by football activity as the outbreak was gaining ground in Europe.

“It’s probably that there were several major triggers and catalysts for the diffusion of the virus. The Atlanta-Valencia game could very well have been one of them. It was the apex of collective euphoria in a unique football season for this club,” said Foche.

Football bodies in Europe took a long time contemplating whether to suspend matches, and with the games holding thousands of fans at a time, the room for escalation widened. Given the period of the Atlanta-Valencia match, the time is right for the virus to unleash its venom.

“A month has passed since that match, so the timing is pertinent. The aggregation of thousands of people, centimeters from each other, engaging in manifestations of euphoria like hugging, shouting, all of that could’ve favored viral reciprocation.

“I have to imagine many didn’t want to miss that game if they had tickets, even if they felt a slight fever. With hindsight, it was madness to play with a crowd present, but at the time things weren’t clear enough. It’d be unthinkable now,” Foche added.

In February, coronavirus was still considered by many as a disease peculiar to the Chinese people and will be prevented before it gets to some parts of the world, Europe included. It unfortunately happened to be a misconception of COVID-19 that Italy and Spain are paying dearly for.

The Mayor of Bergamo Giorgio Gori said in an interview with Marca that the Atlanta-Valencia game “was a biological bomb” that its detonation took Europe by storm.

“At that time we did not know what was happening. The first patient in Italy was on 23 February. If the virus was already circulating, the 40,000 fans who went to the San Siro Stadium were infected. No one knew that the virus was already circulating among us. Many watched the game in groups and there were many contacts that night. The virus passed from one another,” Gori said.

On March 16, Valencia announced that 35% of the squad that traveled to Italy tested positive. The club returned to Spain with each one, from the squad to fans, having a touch of coronavirus.

The whole of Europe is at the mercy of the pandemic as every nation in the continent is battling to curtail the increasing number of cases and deaths by minute. Football has been fingered as the major cause of the escalation following the government’s insouciant attitude.

The UK is another place taking a major hit right now, and the escalation is also attributed to football activities. It was until coaches and players started testing positive for coronavirus that the Football Association saw the need to suspend matches. It is believed that the spread has been aided by a crowd of spectators who recklessly mingled when they should be distancing.

Efforts by the states and Federal Governments to contain the scourge of coronavirus in Nigeria have been coming in proportionate measures, with each government exerting prowess to protect its state. The Federal Government of Nigeria leads the charge from Abuja, while governors appear proactive in rolling out measures to curb the spread according to their states’ peculiarities.

On Thursday, the presidency announced that more measures are being considered in efforts to quell the spread from infected states to other states with no confirmed cases yet. Part of the decisions the Federal Government is considering include: stopping inter-state/inter-town travels, except for essential services.

Closing all motor parks and inter-state rail stations; using firefighting and other adaptable vehicles and personnel to fumigate cities and towns, and recalling retired health professionals to join the fight.

The Minister of Health Dr. Osagie Ehanire said the measures have become really necessary this time because there are so many suspected cases to trace.

“We have 4,370 people of interest whom we are tracing. We urge those who have had contact with suspected cases to immediately report to the authorities. We urge Nigerians to support the authorities in this regard.

“Nigeria is on the verge of reaching the level of community spread. We must stop this immediately or we will record exponential cases in the days ahead. There is no better way to say this,” the Enahire said.

Before the Ministry made this known, some states like Rivers, Kano and Kaduna had made the decision to ban inter-state transportation, closing entries to and fro the states. On Wednesday, Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State said his government has initiated inter-state transportation restriction as a measure of protecting its citizens from the infection. According to him, the decision became necessary following a foiled attempt by an infected person to sneak into the state.

“Based on this alarming information, the State Security Council met Yesterday (Tuesday) and reviewed measures already put in place and decided that there was urgent need to adopt stringent measures to protect those living and doing business in the state from the virus.

“With effect from 6pm on Thursday, March 26, 2020, the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa will not be open to air traffic… all land and sea borders will be closed. Vehicular movements in and out of the state have been banned. In essence, no vehicle will leave Rivers State for any other state and no vehicle will be allowed to enter the state,” Wike said.

In the same vein, Kano and Kaduna states have restricted air and land transportation to the states, as Kaduna has started a dusk-till-dawn curfew with plans to fumigate all the market places in the state.

However, Lagos seems to be doing the most as it is the most infected state in Nigeria. Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has been applauded for his pragmatism in handling the challenge.

The Lagos State House of Assembly in a swift response to the escalation of the pandemic has passed a bill to curb the spread and oversee other matters related to it. The bill which contains 25 sections is entitled: A Bill for a Law to Combat and Stop the Spread of Coronavirus Pandemic in Lagos State and for connected purposes.

Lagos is the first state in Nigeria to pass a bill respecting coronavirus. With 14 new cases recorded, Lagos has 12, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in Nigeria to 65, 44 of them in Lagos. The state needs more help than any other in Nigeria.

Sanwo-Olu has outlined more measures to combat the virus including fumigation of Lagos streets and the closure of markets which took effect on Thursday.

“To ensure we keep our environment safe and curtail the contagion of COVID-19, we are deploying disinfectant equipment to fumigate the entire state. These fumigation machines will be deployed to every part of the metropolis for sterilization of our public spaces and surfaces,” Sanwo-Olu said on Thursday.

However, the population density of the state has called for more drastic measures and funds to help the state’s Ministry of Health to implement some of the outlined measures, which includes expanding the capacity of hospitals and health centers to conduct tests and providing more isolation centers.

The federal government on Thursday, responded to the call by approving the release of N10 billion to the Lagos State government, and N5 billion to the Nigerian Center for Disease Control (NCDC).

With the measures taken so far, the Lagos State government appears to be on top of its game, and it is setting the pace for other states. Nigeria has recorded only one death, and the Lagos State Ministry of Health announced that six more infected people have tested negative and will be allowed to go home soon.

However, the clamor for a total lockdown of the state has been going on and the State Government has responded by issuing an opinion survey to Lagos residents. It is hoped that the survey will help the state government to make the right call on movement in the state, and provide for the vulnerable in case the lockdown takes effect.

While people are crying some set of people are exceedingly happy. When others are experiencing economic misfortune, others are experiencing economic fortunes. The world functions through what they call trends.

 In our economic society, the coffin maker is very happy when people die regularly. This is because the death of many people means increase in sales, revenue and profitability for the coffin business. Why won’t they be happy when it is their turn to smile to the banks to cash out.

 The mechanic (an expert who fixes cars) is in business when he has broken cars to fix. That means the pain of car owners is a great joy to the mechanic business. What an ironic world. But these guys are there to fix economic frictions. They solve great problems and provide great value.

 The same economic trend is currently happening to the global economy caused by the coronavirus pandemic. While some are smiling others are wailing. Let us see the businesses that are smiling. In this article we shall also see what to do to plan to adapt in this period.

How The Covid-19 Is Creating Sectoral Opportunities.

The global economic trends created by the covid-19 pandemic has open unusual business opportunities for the following sectors.

1. The Health or Medical Sector.

The most important discussion currently is around the health sector. It is a very critical sector at the moment because health is now the prioritized pursuit of everybody.

This period, health products have massive demands and there might be a shortage in supply which will create a great market gap for entrepreneurs.

 The most important information in the media either social or the press, is how to discover vaccines to cure the Coronavirus pandemic. This will make the health sector firm boom. Pharmaceutical companies, hospitals and other health related businesses will flourish this time.

• The Essential Goods Sector.

 The next consideration after health and safety is survival or food. How do we survive without food? We need food at this critical time. This is why governments all over the world have ordered a close down of businesses except the essential goods industry.

 This trend affects the supermarket businesses, filling stations, groceries businesses and some aspects of food related businesses. If there is restriction of movement that means people must eat. This will create high demand for these businesses.

• The Logistics Sector.

This sector is a very important industry that the global trend has positively affected. The aspect of the logistics industry is in the domestic transportation of goods. There must be vehicles that will take care of the transportation of food products and health products to the above sectors in order to keep supply constants.

 So, the logistics industry is in the supply equation of these businesses. So, this means that the logistics business will experience a boom in demand due to this trend.

• Market Friction Opportunities.

Surely, the pandemic has created frictions in the market. Friction is simply the problems in the market that must be solved economically or entrepreneurially. Some of such opportunities are the demand for hand sanitizers. Some entrepreneurs have started manufacturing hand sanitizers and nose masks

 The greatest of the friction is the need to discover a vaccine to covid-19 that is causing economic and financial crisis all over the world. What opportunities are you seeing? Comment below;

 What about the people and business affected negatively, what should they do?

 I know that this trend has caused many businesses to close, due to the shutdown of businesses by the order of the governments. This is the right time to rethink and adapt in order to strive and thrive in this storm. If your job and your business is affected then do the following;

• Job Rethinking Strategy.

I have been an advocate that one source of income is good but not suitable for employees. It is like a stool that has one stand, it will collapse when the stand is cut.

 If you have lost your job, you need to strategize your career by ensuring you have what to fall back to anytime. That means, it is time to plan to learn a skill. Learn a skill that you can use as a side hustle. Alternatively, you can have an investment that generates a passive source of income.

• Business Model Rethinking Strategy.

How can you remain in your business in this period? It will be a disaster for you, your employees, investor and family if your business folds. It means the unemployment in your country will rise and investors’ funds will go down the drain.

 Rethinking your business model is adjusting and improving the way your business creates value in order to adapt to the trend. 

As I advise a friend that he can leverage technology to digitize some part of his business and adhere to health measures in other aspects of his business he can not automate. Do the same in your business. In case, you need a digital platform, my company Codecitty can handle that for your business professionally. Reach me now

 It is not the strongest species that survives in a habitat but it is the one that can adapt. The eagles learn how to hunt in the storm. It has become relevant to learn how to hunt in the storm too.