Comparative report of compliance to precautionary measures against COVID-19 in Nigeria and Jordan.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: The purpose of this study is to comparatively report the strategies for implementation of safety measures against the transmission of Covid-19 in Nigeria as the heart of Africa and Jordan as the nexus of Arab world.
METHODOLOGY: The methodology used in this study is systematic literature review (SLR) and content analysis of report of the secondary data on Covid-19 which was obtained from Nigerian Centre for Disease Control & Presidential Task Force in Nigeria and Jordanian National Committee for Epidemic. MAIN
FINDINGS: The report showed indicators of compliance to precautionary measures against the spread of Covid-19 in both Nigeria and Jordan. There was an imposition total lockdown in major citizens like Lagos & Abuja in Nigeria and Irbid in Jordan while partial lockdown in other parts of the countries. Also, both countries tried to comply with the safety measures provided by World Health Organization (WHO) against Covid-19 such as: the use of facemask, social distancing, hand sanitizers and school activities were suspended. However, there is no specific fine against the violators of precautionary measures in Nigeria as compared to what is obtainable in Jordan where fines of Jordanian Dinars of 20-50 was imposed. APPLICATIONS OF THIS STUDY: The report can be useful to Nigeria Centre for Disease Control & Presidential Task Force in Nigeria, Jordanian National Committee for Epidemic, health workers and policymakers towards strengthening compliance with safety measures that are put in place in curtailing further transmission of the virus. NOVELTY/ORIGINALITY OF THIS STUDY: Most studies on Covid-19 assessed the rate of the spread of the pandemic but this study attempts to comparatively examine the compliance of precautionary measures in combatting the spread of Covid-19 in both Nigeria and Jordan. The readers would benefit from the study by galvanizing efforts in ensuring the compliance to the safety measures against the transmission of Covid-19 in both Nigeria and Jordan.

Introduction

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus otherwise known as Covid-19 is a worldwide pandemic that affected the whole world. Coronavirus is an outbreak of communicable disease that started in December 2019 in Wuhan, China (Nishiura et al., 2020; Yang et al., 2020). The emergence of coronavirus infection in different parts of the world cannot be underestimated because it has posed a big health challenge globally (Zhu et al., 2020). This scenario has made scientist venture into research to find out the consequence of the virus (Sheikh and Rabin, 2020). However, literature such as Sallam et al. (2020) investigated conspiracy ascbribed with the scenario of Covid-19 especially with respect to low knowledge nd high level of anxiety about the virus. As a result of this, the comparative analysis of the implementation strategies will help in determining the achievability or attainability of precautionary measures in curbing the further spread of Covid-19. There were confirmed cases of Covid-19 in different countries such as Brazil, United States, Russia and many other African countries. After the spread of the virus from China to different parts of the world, there has been a concern about the global health challenge as literature contends (Wang et al., 2020). World Health Organization (WHO) identified thirteen countries in Africa including Nigeria with potential high-risk of the contagiousness of the virus. As a result of the severity of the pandemic to the global health challenge, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) (2020a; 2020b), the outbreak of Covid-19 is considered as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). Hence, both developed and developing countries are affected with the challenge of Covid-19 pandemic. More importantly, Nigeria and Jordan had similar experience of the spread and just like many countries of the world put in place precautionary measures against further spread of the virus (Al-Jazeera, 2020). Precautionary measure refers to knowledge and attitude an anticipatory or preventive action against the danger of Covid-19 (Ashraf et al., 2020). Specifically, Nigeria recorded the cases of the Covid-19 at early stage of the spread as a result of international contacts with some individuals that arrived the countries from oversees. However, it can be said that according to information provided by Frontiers (2021), Jordan did not record the cases of Covid-19 at early stage of the spread.

It should be specifically noted that, ministries of health of both Nigeria and Jordan took drastic and immediate action in curtailing the further spread of the virus using multi-dimentionl strategies (Al-Qutob et al., 2020; Al-Tammemi, 2020). More importantly, there was dissemination of information especially the order of stay-at-home or a lockdown, social distancing, the use of hand sanitizers etc. are undeniably imposed on the citizens in the two countries (i.e. Nigeria and Jordan) (Ifijeh, 2020; Jordan, 2020). In addition, there have been overwhelming studies on Covid-19 in the recent time such as its impact on labour market (Guy-Ryder, 2020); on micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (Falokun, 2020; Odinaka and Josephine, 2020); on nutrition and food shortage (Olufunmilayo, 2020) and many others.

Notably, precautionary measures from different perspectives in various parts of the world were being put in place, but the extent of compliance with the measures remains obscure in the existing studies on Covid-19 (Omaka-Amari et al., 2020). It is not disputable to say that, the figures of Covid-19 cases proliferate on daily basis in different parts of the world, there is an insufficient research exploring comparative analysis and report of implementation of precautionary measures in curtailing the spread of Covid-19. This paper is thereby motivated to be carried out because there are different stigmas such as: dying, fear of falling sick, helplessness among others attributed to Covid-19 pandemic. Therefore, this paper primarily aims at lucidly examining the implementation of specific variables of report on precautionary measures against Covid-19 in Nigeria and Jordan.

Methodology

This part presents the methodology employed in this report. Several studies have been conducted on Covid-19 but there is still a gap in the existing literature especially in the aspect of implementation or compliance to the safety measure being put in place in both Nigeria and Jordan. Majorly, secondary data were used in this research specifically by comparatively analyzing data on the extent of compliance with precautionary measuring in curtailing the spread of Covid-19 in both Nigeria and Jordan. The secondary data on Covid-19 was obtained from Nigeria Centre for Disease Control & Presidential Task Force on Covid-19 in the country (Ifijeh, 2020) while the data on Covid-19 was also obtained from Jordanian National Committee for Epidemic (Jordan, 2020; Ministry of Health, 2020). In handling the data of this study, systematic literature review (SLR) was employed. Literature contends the use of SLR will clarify ideas (Pittaway and Cope, 2006). Hence, clarification and analysis of the extent of compliance to the precautionary measures are explicated. In so doing, there were themes generated from the systematic literature review namely: stay-at-home or lockdown (i.e., ban of public or social gatherings), social distancing, the use hand sanitizers, suspension of schools, closure of border and airport, designated hospitals for treatment of Covid-19 infection. Notably, thirty-one (31) articles were explored in this report in exploring precautionary measures taken in curtailing the spread of Covid-19 in both Nigeria and Jordan and the methods used is SLR as literature contends (Pittaway and Cope, 2006). The criteria used in selection of the articles is that, the researchers ensured that the recent articles specifically between 2020 and 2021 on Covid-19 were explored. Then, systematic literature review was used by considering four major selection criteria of the literatures which are namely: online peer-reviewed, dissertations, article that explored strategies for curtailing Covid-19 in both Nigeria and Jordan, article that explicitly used both qualitative and quantitative methodologies and online data based were explored in order to access relevant articles on Covid-19. This is in line with criteria identified in the existing body of knowledge regarding the use of systematic literature review (SLR) on the state of knowledge purposely to provide substantial direction for the future research (Centobelli et al. 2020a, 2020b). This is also taken into consideration in this study by reporting the current measures against the spread of Covid-19 in both Nigeria and Jordan.

Report of COVID-19 and safety measures in Nigeria and Jordan

This part presents report on Covid-19 and safety measures provided in both Nigeria and Jordan. Systematic literature review (SLR) is used where ideas are being clarified as literature asserts (Pittaway and Cope, 2006). The reports are sub-divided into report of Covid-19 in Nigeria and Jordan.

Report of COVID-19 and safety measures in Nigeria

The contagiousness and severity of the acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus which has spread infection in the country cannot be denied. It should be mentioned that several studies have explored the impact of Covid-19 on different aspects namely: food shortage and nutrition (Olufunmilayo, 2020); labour market (Guy-Ryder, 2020); Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) (Falokun, 2020; Odinaka and Josephine, 2020). As a result of the fact that the reality of Covid-19 remains undeniable, the federal government of Nigeria constituted Presidential Task Force on Covid-19 to address the challenges of Covid-19. It should be mentioned that different mechanisms have been put in place in order to curb the further spread of the pandemic. The government is serious about implementing various precautionary measures that can prevent the transmission of Covid-19 in line with the provision of World Health Organization (WHO).

The first case of Covid-19 was reported in Nigeria on the 27th February, 2020 when an Italian was tested positive in Lagos, Nigeria (Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, 2020a; Maclean and Dahir, 2020). Similarly, Chinese citizen also underwent test of coronavirus and the government later announced positive test result on Chinese (Gesinde, 2020). As a result of this incidence, the Federal government announced its commitment in enhancing surveillance at the different airports especially in Lagos, Kano, FCT, Rivers and Enugu in order to curtail further spread of the virus. Precisely, it was on 27th April, 2020 that the President gave an instruction for the provision of guidelines as part of implementation strategy to curtailing the spread of Covid-19. As a result of this, the government set up a group called Coronavirus Preparedness Group (CPG) whose primary task was to mitigate against the spread of the virus if eventually gets to the country (Ifijeh, 2020).

Furthermore, on 18th March, 2020, the country placed a ban on 13 countries with high-risk cases of Covid-19 such as: United States, China, Italy, France, Germany, South Korea, Switzerland, Netherland, Spain, Norway, Iran and Japan (Ifijeh, 2020). More importantly, Lagos recorded the first and subsequent few cases and gradually, the virus spread to different states in the country. Despite the fact that, the government has been trying to curtail the spread of the virus, between 27th February and 30th March, 2020, the country recorded 6, 000 suspected cases drawn from different parts of the countries such as: Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Kaduna etc. and five persons were discharged while one death was recorded within this period (Ezigbo and Ifijeh, 2020). It should be noted that, as at 18th May, 2021, statistical data shows that, the country has recorded 165, 702 cases, 7,224 are active, 156, 412 were recovered while 2,066 deaths were recorded across different states of the federation (Nigeria Centre for Disease Control 2020a; Nigeria's Coronavirus, 2021). The proliferation of the cases recorded between February and October, 2020 further confirmed the earlier assumption of World Health Organization (WHO) that Nigeria is considered as part of African countries with high-risk of the virus (Ezigbo and Ifijeh, 2020). Literature contends that, there are total figures surpass sixty thousand cases (Nigeria's Coronavirus, 2021). Table 1 shows Covid-19 pandemic and statistical records of confirmed cases, active cases, recovered cases and death in Nigeria.

Table 1

Covid-19 Pandemic and Recent Statistical Records (confirmed cases, active cases, recovered cases and death) in Nigeria.

S/N	Covid-19 Pandemic	Statistical Records in Nigeria
1.	Confirmed Cases	165, 702
2.	Active Cases	7, 224
3.	Recovered/Discharged cases	156, 412
4.	Death	2,066

Source:Nigeria's Coronavirus (2021).

Report of COVID-19 and safety measures in Jordan

In fact, the outbreak of Covid-19 in Jordan cannot be denied and the country also recorded first case of the pandemic on the 2nd March, 2020. There were people especially those that had just arrived from other countries showing the symptoms of Covid-19. The first case of the Covid-19 in Jordan was on 2nd March, 2020 (Jordan, 2020). Notably, the Spokesman of the Jordanian National Committee for Epidemics was proactive in taking the statistics of the cases of Covid-19 in the country. As at 17th March, 2020, there were fifty-six cases according to the report provided by the National Committee for Epidemics (CNN, 2020). It is reiterated that, by 19th March, 2020, sixty-nine cases were recorded among citizens of different countries such as: Jordan, Filipinos, Argentina, Iraq, Lebanon, Lebanon among others. Nonetheless, it is noted that, there were total number of 1, 837 people in Dead Sea Hotels and 3, 055 people in Amman Hotels totaling 4, 892 that were quarantined (Khatatbeh, 2020a, Khatatbeh, 2020b).

More importantly, Prince Hamzah Hospital is one of the hospitals meant for quarantine of the infected individuals. As of 23rd March, 2020, there were one hundred twenty-seven (127) out of which one hundred and three (103) were Jordanians and others were foreigners (CNN, 2020). Similarly, there were five thousand and five (5,005) individuals that were being quarantined. Furthermore, on the 28th March, 2020, Jordan recorded the first death emanating from Covid-19. Specifically, it was mentioned that an old woman who had reached the age of 83 was admitted at a private hospital for receiving treatment of different illness such as blood poisoning. Subsequently, the old woman was transferred to Prince Hamzah Hospital and it was later confirmed that, she had contacted the coronavirus and later died. When the country recorded 259 cases, there was another case of death of 77-year-old man as a result of Covid-19. By 30th March, 2020, the country has recorded fourth deaths of Covid-19 (Jordan, 2020). In addition, as at 4th April, 2020, there were 323 confirmed cases and there were 74 total recoveries in the country. Similarly, statistical data shows that, as at 18th May, 2021, there are 725, 258 confirmed cases in Jordan, actives cases were 5, 527, recovered cases 710, 455 while deaths were 9, 276 across different parts of the Kingdom. Table 2 shows Covid-19 Pandemic and Statistical Records (confirmed cases active cases, recovered cases and death) in Jordan.

Table 2

Covid-19 Pandemic and Recent Statistical Records (confirmed cases active cases, recovered cases and death) in Jordan.

S/N	Covid-19 Pandemic	Statistical Records in Jordan
1.	Confirmed Cases	725, 258
2.	Active Cases	5, 527
3.	Recovered cases	710, 455
4.	Death	9, 276

Source:Worldometers, 2021a, Worldometers, 2021b.

Findings on report of safety measures against COVID-19 in Nigeria and Jordan

This part presents the analysis of secondary data on the report of Covid-19 obtained from Nigeria Centre for Disease Control & Presidential Task Force on Covid-19 in the country while the data on Covid-19 was also obtained from Jordanian National Committee for Epidemic in order to comparatively explore of the extent compliance on the precautionary measures in the contexts of Nigeria and Jordan. The order of lockdown or curfew was put in place in different parts of the world as precautionary measures against the transmission of Covid-19 in order to curtail the spread of pandemic as overwhelming studies have explored the contagious coronavirus (Yang et al., 2020; Zhu et al., 2020). Some countries like Italy implemented total lockdown while some parts of other countries like Nigeria and Jordan implemented partial lockdown. The severity of the spread of the virus leads to the imposition of curfew on the citizens in order to avoid further transmission (World Health Organization, 2020a, 2020b, 2020c). Several studies such as Sheikh and Rabin (2020) have explored scientific implications of coronavirus on health and wellbeing of the people. Hence, different themes explored in this paper are explicated. Various themes are as follows: Stay-at-home or lockdown (banned of public or social gatherings), social distancing, the use hand sanitizers, suspension of schools, closure of border and airport. The findings are subdivided into precautionary measures against Covid-19 in Nigeria and precautionary measures against Covid-19 in Jordan. Each of these is explicated respectively.

First, there was strict lockdown in Nigeria especially Lagos and Ogun States as well as Federal Capital Territory (FCT) since the early time of the outbreak of the pandemic (Maclean and Dahir, 2020). Nonetheless, as the country records meaningful improvement on the implementation of the guidelines in combating the spread of the Covid-19, the government decided to gradually ease the lockdown in the aforementioned states and FCT respectively. both total and partial lockdowns were implemented in Nigeria. States with severity of recorded cases like Lagos, Kaduna and Federal Capital territory implemented total lockdown while states such as Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara with less recorded cases of Covid-19 implemented partial lockdown. The Federal government of Nigeria was also proactive in taking the issue of Covid-19 seriously. It is noteworthy to say that, there was violation of curfew in places like Lagos, Abuja and Kaduna and few individuals were arrested but there is no specific fine imposed on the violators. The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Presidential Task Force played vibrant role in controlling the spread of the virus in the country (Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, 2020a; Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, 2020b). As a result of the spread of the virus, on 10th March, 2020, Turkish Airlines cancelled all their scheduled flights to Nigeria because of the spread of the virus to the country. In addition, on 17th March, 2020, the country shifted its schedule to hold 20th national sports festival which was expected to have been held at Benin City in Edo State between 22 March and 1st April, 2020 (Omaka-Amari et al., 2020). Furthermore, it should be reiterated that, the National Youth Service Corps due to the spread of Covid-19 decided to suspend the Batch A stream one orientation that was earlier schedule to commence on the 10th March, 2020. Similarly, there were many parastatals that suspended their activities such as Joint Admissions & Matriculation Board, Nigerian Senate, Nigerian House of Representatives, National Examination Council and among others (Omaka-Amari et al., 2020). Onwards, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Administration, there was an order for closure of markets, shops, mosques, churches. However, there was an exception for those selling food items, medicines among others (Maclean and Dahir, 2020). Also, Ekiti State on the 26th March, 2020 and Kano State on 27th March, 2020 banned the operations of markets in the state but there is an exception of those selling important commodities such as food items, medicine, medical equipment among others (Khalid, 2020). In March 2020 when the Covid-19 started, for example, Lagos, Osun, Oyo and Ogun States with high risk of the spread banned religious gatherings of over 50 worshippers for almost 30 days. Apart from the aforementioned states, other states like Sokoto, Zamfara, Katsina, Nigeria, Jigawa, Kano, Kaduna, Kebbi, Anambra States also closed down schools as a result of Covid-19. Also, Rivers State on the 25th March, 2020 announced the closure of the sea, air and land borders. Similarly, Kogi State government also declared the closure of sea and land borders. On social distancing, the government's Task Force on Covid-19 provides that, mass gathering of more than twenty (20) is prohibited outside a workplace. Additionally, there is a control concerning to the accessibility to the markets and other locations for economic transactions. In a situation where gathering that is not more than twenty (20) and violation to this will attract prosecution. Thus, the government considers social distancing of two (20) meter as a measure between people in the public gathering. Nigeria was hesitated to give a ban as a result of the fear of economic shortfall in the country until when the Covid-19 surged up. Also, Nigeria also puts in place a ban to all passenger flights but in case of those that had just arrived, they were expected to observe isolation for at least for fourteen (14) days. In not shell, it has been demonstrated that, there are safety measures in safeguarding the lives of the citizens from transmission of Covid-19 in the country.

Second, it should be reiterated that Arab world generally and Middle East particularly have been facing serious economic downthrown and the recent scenario of Covid-19 pandemic affected the economic activities of the Arab and third world countries. Despite of this challenge, Jordan has been responsive to the challenge of Covid-19 by taking appropriate measure in combating the challenge of the virus. The extent of this has been acknowledged when the country was considered alongside with Greece, Slovenia, Iceland, Vietnam etc. as a country with an effective and efficient measures against the transmission of coronavirus (Jordan, 2020; CNN, 2020). it is essential to note that Jordanian government has been making tremendous effort in curtailing the spread of Covid-19 in the country. More significantly, the governorate of Irbid in Jordan was totally isolated from other parts of the entire Kingdom in order to curb the further spread of Covid-19 in the country (Jordan, 2020; Jordan Times, 2020). Despite the fact that, the government has been making tremendous effort in curtailing the spread of Covid-19, there was a serious violation to the curfew put in place by the government. For instance, on the 26th March, 2020, total number of 385 individuals were arrested due to the violation to the existing lockdown and roughly 430 vehicles were unreservedly seized as literature contends (Joran, 2020; Jordan Times, 2020). In Jordan, it was observed that some citizens were violating the safety measures put in place by the government such as wearing of face masks in public transportation and more importantly, lockdown and total lockdown later led to chaos (CNN, 2020). Hence, there was imposition of fine of 20–50 Jordanian Dinars ($30-70USD). As a result of this, the health officials in the country had a concern that, there was a lack social distancing measure that was put in place, there might be serious wave that could outpour the spread of Covid-19 in the country. There was closure of border/airport in responding to the rapid spread of coronavirus in different part of the world, the government of Jordan took proactive step by closing border and airport. There was no specific attention in putting quarantine facility in place especially on the 2nd March, 2020 when a Jordanian citizen arrived from Italy. Nonetheless, there was recovery from the first case (Al-Tammemi, 2020). Hence, two weeks after recovery of the victim of the first case, the country was free from any further case of coronavirus. It should be stressed that, between 15th and 21st March, 2020, there were cases of 29 infected people from six French tourists, one Iraqi and Jordanian citizens that returned from Spain. More specifically, prior to the final closure of border and airport, precisely, it was on the 17th March, 2020 that the country finally shutdown the border and airport. When Jordan temporarily banned foreigners from Iran, South-Korea and China from entry the country since 27th February, 2020, Jordanian government ensured that any citizen attempts to cross border or airport, there was compulsory medical examinations of chest, throat and temperature and whoever discovered to be tested positively of Covid-19, such a person would be quarantined for two weeks (Ashraf et al., 2020). In addition, the Jordanian government also declared state of emergency on 21st March, 2020 by imposing a curfew in order to curtail the transmission of Covid-19. Furthermore, since the outbreak of Covid-19, Jordan provided designated hospitals for treatment of the infection as part of precautionary measures (Jordan, 2020). More significantly, Ministry of Health and National Epidemics Committee in Jordan played paramount roles in this regard. Fundamentally, one of essential precautionary measures taken by Jordanian government is that, five weeks prior to the record of the first case of the virus in March, 2020, hence, hospitals were secluded as isolation centre for treatment of infections. On the 15th March, 2020, the Jordanian government strategizes in quarantining those that newly arrived citizens to the country as a proactive response to the challenge of Covid-19 (Al-Qutob et al., 2020). The increase in the cases of coronavirus in the context of Jordan had made the government to put quarantine procedure in place. For instance, there was a case of female nurse who was working at the women's orthopedic department at Al-Bashir Hospital that was tested positive (Al-Qutob et al., 2020). As a result of contagiousness of Covid-19, the colleagues of the nurse at the hospital and others who had contacted with her such as: her family members were asked to undergo quarantine for fourteen days (Al-Qutob et al., 2020). Notably, banned of public or social gatherings was imposed because of the rapid proliferation in figures of infected individuals in Jordan. Also, the government of Jordan suspended the schools in order to curtail the further spread of Covid-19.

Discussion of major findings

This part presents the discussion of major findings of the reports from Nigeria and Jordan. The historical records showed that the Covid-19 started in Wuhan in the republic of China and transmitted uncontrollably to various parts of the world as literature posits (Nishiura et al., 2020; Yang et al., 2020; Zhu et al., 2020). The contagious nature of Covid-19 is a reality that a number of studies have confirmed its spread which has raised concern about global health (World Health Organizations, 2020a; Wang et al., 2020). Based on the exploration of secondary data of this study, it has been established that Covid-19 is an indisputable pandemic that affected different countries including Nigeria and Jordan (Maclean and Dahir, 2020; Jordan, 2020; Al-Jazeerah, 2020).

The findings of the study demonstrated that, confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Nigeria as at 20th October, 2020 is 61, 630 while in the case of Jordan, the confirmed cases are 38, 937 (Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, 2020a; Jordan Times, 2020). On one hand, some people might argue that, the population of Nigeria is more than Jordan which might contribute to high figures of the confirmed cases as compared to Jordan. On the other hand, it can also be argued that proactive action of Jordanian government in responding to the scenario of Covid-19 especially where the Jordanian Committee on Epidemic played significant roles as compared to Nigeria where government was responsive after the record of the Covid-19 case in Lagos. It can be reiterated that, there is political sentiment attached with the Covid-19 cases in Nigeria especially literature such as Omaka-Amari et al. (2020) affirmed lack of sincerity by the government in handling the cases of Covid-19 in the country. The study showed that, the Nigerian government put in place Presidential Task Force on Covid-19 and Coronavirus Preparedness Group (CPG) in collaboration of the Nigerian Disease Control Centre in combatting the transmission of the virus (Ifijeh, 2020) while Ministry of Health and Jordanian Committee on Epidemic were initiated to control the spread of the Covid-19 in the country (Jordan, 2020; Ministry of Health, 2020).

More so, there is a practice of total and partial lockdowns in both Nigeria and Jordan especially where order of stay-at-home was implemented in Lagos, Ogun and Abuja while it was implemented in Irbid. Other parts of the two countries implemented partial lockdown in order to curtail the transmission of Covid-19 (Maclean and Dahir, 2020). The findings of the study indicated that, the activities of markets, shops and mosques were shut down and there are exceptions for those working in the media houses, sellers of food items, medicines, medical equipment among others (Maclean and Dahir, 2020). In addition, both Nigeria and Jordan banned social gatherings because it could spread Covid-19 if such is encouraged. In Nigeria, there is an emphasis that whoever violates the safety measures put in place by the government will be prosecuted. Nonetheless, the prosecution is not clear compared to what is obtainable in Jordan where those that were arrested in connection with the violation of Covid-19 regulation were given fine of 20–50 Jordanian Dinars equivalent to $30-70USD.

It can be argued that, the mechanisms put in place by Jordanian government is more effective and efficient as compared to that of Nigeria. The justification for this assertion is that, World Health Organization (WHO) considered Jordan as being proactive in responding to Covid-19 just like some other countries like Greece, Slovenia, Iceland, Vietnam etc. as literature posits (Jordan, 2020; CNN, 2020). However, Nigeria was not given this kind of recognition with regards to responsiveness to Covid-19. In addition, the study by Khalid (2020) indicates that, there is positive effect of strict measure put in place by the Jordanian government in curbing the transmission of Covid-19. Also, the study by Khatatbeh, 2020a, Khatatbeh, 2020b shows that there is an efficacy with respect to the nationwide curfew implemented by the government. However, other studies such as Sallam et al. (2020) contend that, there is low knowledge of Covid-19 among Jordanian students but high anxiety is associated with the virus.

It can be further said that, Nigeria has highest confirmed cases of Covid-19 compared to what is obtainable in Jordan whereby the arrest of violators of rules and regulations of Covid-19 was made. In other words, the numbers of arrested individuals in connection with the violation of curfew in Nigeria was less as compared with the numbers of arrested people in Jordan. Nonetheless, the lockdown without palliatives metamorphose into social unrest in Nigeria and literature has emphatically stresses on lack of sincerity by the government to the citizens (Omaka-Amari et al., 2020). Ministry of Health and Nigeria Centre for Disease Control were in charge in the country while Ministry of Health and National Epidemics Committee were in charge in Jordan. In not shell, the strategies for curtailing the spread of the virus were essential despite the fact that, there are negative attitude to the strategies and precautionary measures put in place by the government as literature contends (Khalid, 2020; Ashraf et al., 2020). Table 3 shows indicators of Covid-19 precautionary measures and implementation strategies in Nigeria and Jordan.

Table 3

Indicators of Covid-19 precautionary measures and implementation strategies in Nigeria and Jordan.

S/N	Indicators of Covid-19 Precautionary Measures	Implementation Strategies in Nigeria	Implementation Strategies in Jordan
1.	Stay-at-home or Lockdown	i. Imposition of total lockdown in Lagos, Ogun States as well as Federal Capital Territory (FCT). ii. Partial lockdown nationwide between 8pm and 6am.	i. There is a total lock in governorate of Irbid in Jordan as a result of transmission of infection. ii. There is partial lockdown in other parts of the entire Kingdom in order to curtail further spread of Covid-19.
2.	Banned of social gatherings/Social Distancing/	i. Social gathering should not be more 20. ii. Social distancing should be encouraged. iii. There is imposition of the use of face mask in the country. iv. There is no specific fine leveled against the violators of the use of face mask against COvid-19.	i. There is a ban on social gathering in the country. ii. Social distancing should be encouraged. iii. There is also imposition of the use of face mask in the country. iv. There was imposition of fine of 20–50 Jordanian Dinars ($30-70USD).
3.	The use Hand Sanitizers	i. Provision of hand sanitizers to passengers ii. Provision of hand wash and sanitizers in public places like bank to employees and customers.	The government of Jordan made the use of sanitizer compulsory as a way of curtailing the spread of the virus.
4.	Suspension of Schools/Restaurants/recreational parks	i. All schools are closed and opening shall be determined by the time to time evaluation by the government task force's evaluation. ii. Schools are advised to continue with e-learning and visual teaching. iii. Restaurants are advised to open between 8:00am and 3:00pm and home delivery to be encouraged until government's task force provides further evaluation. iv. Various social gatherings such as sports, recreational activities, social parties, movie theatres etc. are suspected.	The government of Jordan suspended the schools in order to curtail the further spread of Covid-19.
5.	Inter-State travel, closure of border/airport	i. Travel should be done between 6:00am and 6:00pm. ii. Daily motor park sanitation. iii. Compulsory use of face mask/coverings by passengers of inter-state transport.	i. Jordanian government ensures that any citizen attempts to cross border or airport. ii. There was compulsory chest, throat and temperature medical examinations.
6.	Designated Hospitals for Treatment of Covid-19 Infection	The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control in collaboration with Presidential Task Force on COvid-19 provides designated hospital for quarantining	The Ministry of Health and National Epidemics Committee in Jordan provides designated hospital for quarantining

For the comparison and discussion to be more meaningful, in addition to the comparisons made in Table 3 between the 2 countries, further clarification is also made regarding the current cases count of Covid-19. However, the infection rates of Covid-19 in both countries should be explicitly considered alongside with the population. According to the Worldometers, 2021a, Worldometers, 2021b elaboration provided by the United Nations data, the current population of Nigeria is estimated 210, 554, 790 which is almost equivalent to 3.64% of the total population of the entire world. On the other hand, according to Worldometers, 2021a, Worldometers, 2021b, the United Nations data on the population of Jordan states that, the current population of Jordan is 10, 291, 950. Based on the population of Nigeria, it would be expected that Nigeria has a tendency of increase in the cases of Covid-19, however, despite the fact that, Jordan's population is not large as compared to Nigeria, but the country recorded a large number of cases. It can therefore be said that, Nigeria has been adequately curtailing the spread of Covid-19 compared to Jordan. The proliferation in the figures of cases in the context of Jordan might be as a result of easing the lockdown measures which made the situation uncontrollable in Jordan as literature contends (Khatatbeh, 2020a, Khatatbeh, 2020b).

It is important to note that, Nigeria is the 7th high ranked country pertaining to the registered cases of Covid-19 in the entire Africa. It should be reiterated that, the current cases count or positive of Covid-19 tests in Nigeria specifically between 28th February 2020 and 3rd May, 2021 has grown by forty-six whereby, there were total number of 165, 199 cases. Similarly, there were almost two thousand casualties and 155 thousand recoveries from the pandemic in the country. According to the recent report by NCDC (2021) specifically as of 18th May, 2021, the total number of confirmed cases in Nigeria is estimated as 165. 702; active cases are 7, 224; discharged cases are 156, 412 and the total number of recorded deaths was 2, 066.

As a result of easing the lockdown measures in Jordan, literature posits that, the situation became severe and unbearable whereby within 14 days, the daily positivity rates drastically reached approximately 29% which further led to distressing situation of Covid-19 in the country (Khatatbeh, 2020a, Khatatbeh, 2020b).

Limitation and future research

Undoubtedly, World Health Organization (WHO) has provided safety measures against Covid-19 as a framework for many countries of the including Nigeria and Jordan. Compliance to the precautionary measures are examined in this study. The limitation of this study report is that, it cannot claim a complete accuracy because secondary data were used rather than primary data which was meant for selecting respondents to respond to the designed instrument. Hence, there are still many unexplored factors such as: dying, fear of falling sick, helplessness, stigmatization, misconception & myths, fear, inadequate health facilities among others in connection with safety measures that were not captured in this research. Therefore, there is still a gap that is not explored which future research can inevitably bridge. Therefore, the factors investigated in this research can be empirically tested in order to establish the genuineness of the report. In not shell, despite the fact that, the study has limitations, it has provided substantial direction for future research in order to concretize the outcome of this report.

Conclusion

The prime objective of the report was to explore the compliance to precautionary measures against the transmission of Covid-19 in both Nigeria and Jordan as a result of the fact that there has been a concern pertaining to the violation of regulations put in place in curtail the spread in the country. The objective of the study has been achieved through the exploration of secondary data obtained from Ministry of Health and Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Ministry of Health and National Epidemics Committee in Jordan. The findings of the study demonstrated that, the implementation of precautionary measures against transmission of Covid-19 is paramount.

Declarations

Author contribution statement

Basiem Al-Shattarat, Yusuff Jelili Amuda: Conceived and designed the experiments; Performed the experiments; Analyzed and interpreted the data; Contributed reagents, materials, analysis tools or data; Wrote the paper.

Funding statement

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Data availability statement

Data will be made available on request.

Declaration of interests statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

No additional information is available for this paper.