Lawyers Must Be Supported To Handle Impending Tsunami Of Coronavirus Cases – Prof. Olawuyi

The Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Academic, Research, Innovation and Strategic Partnerships (ARISP) of Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti, Professor Damilola S. Olawuyi has urged governments at all levels to provide urgent and adequate support for the judiciary, lawyers and educational institutions as they face the coming flock of disputes and gridlock amid the pandemic.

Professor Olawuyi, a highly regarded professor of environmental law and Vice-Chair of the International Law Association (ILA) worldwide revealed this during an online workshop on Friday, organized by the Nigerian Bar Association (Ikere Branch), in partnership with the Ekiti State Ministry of Justice, as well as the ILA.

According to him, history has shown that in times of global catastrophe and economic distress, disputes and litigation will significantly increase, ranging from employment cases, to breach of contract, bankruptcy, insurance claims, and supply chain disruptions amongst others.

He added that in addition to technological, digitalization, financial, and infrastructure needs, a number of disaster response mechanisms will need to be put in place at all levels to avoid institutional gridlock.

His words, “History tells us that in times of global catastrophe and economic distress, disputes and litigation will significantly increase, ranging from employment cases, to breach of contract, bankruptcy, insurance claims, and supply chain disruptions amongst others.

The judiciary, as well as lawyers, should be provided adequate support so that they can effectively handle the impending tsunami of disputes and not be overwhelmed.

In addition to technological, digitalization, financial and infrastructure needs, a number of disaster response mechanisms will be need to put in place at all levels to avoid institutional gridlock.”

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Coronaviruses are a group of related viruses that cause diseases in mammals and birds. In humans, coronaviruses cause respiratory tract infections that can be mild, such as some cases of the common cold (among other possible causes, predominantly rhinoviruses), and others that can be lethal, such as SARS, MERS, and COVID-19. Symptoms in other species vary: in chickens, they cause an upper respiratory tract disease, while in cows and pigs they cause diarrhea. There are yet to be vaccines or antiviral drugs to prevent or treat human coronavirus infections.

Coronaviruses constitute the subfamily Orthocoronavirinae, in the family Coronaviridae, order Nidovirales, and realm Riboviria. They are enveloped viruses with a positive-sense single-stranded RNA genome and a nucleocapsid of helical symmetry. The genome size of coronaviruses ranges from approximately 27 to 34 kilobases, the largest among known RNA viruses. The name coronavirus is derived from the Latin corona, meaning “crown” or “halo”, which refers to the characteristic appearance reminiscent of a crown or a solar corona around the virions (virus particles) when viewed under two-dimensional transmission electron microscopy, due to the surface covering in club-shaped protein spikes.

Human coronaviruses were first discovered in the late 1960s. The earliest ones discovered were an infectious bronchitis virus in chickens and two in human patients with the common cold (later named human coronavirus 229E and human coronavirus OC43). Other members of this family have since been identified, including SARS-CoV in 2003, HCoV NL63 in 2004, HKU1 in 2005, MERS-CoV in 2012, and SARS-CoV-2 (formerly known as 2019-nCoV) in 2019. Most of these have involved serious respiratory tract infections.