Background and Objective: Countries in the equatorial and tropical zones that have a high burden–high incidence (HBHI) of malaria infection seem to have the lowest incidences of COVID-19. It is against this background that this study was conducted to ascertain prevalence of malaria and COVID 19 co-infection among
Jos residents, Plateau State, Nigeria, immunological or protective effect of malaria parasite infection on COVID-19 infection and to determine which sex is more vulnerable in that locality.

Materials and Method: The study population composed of both inpa-tients and outpatients that came to three major hospitals in Jos Metropo-lis, Plateau State for medical attention with total population of seventy (70) subjects. Ethical clearance was obtained from Ministry of Health, Plateau State Ethical Committeeand oral consent was obtained from the patients before their names were inputted into the data collection form. Using aseptic precaution, 5mls of blood was collected into K3EDTA bottle for thick blood film for malaria parasite and for COVID-19 IgG/IgM analysis using rapid chromatographic immunoassay for the qualitative detection of IgG and IgM antibodies to 2019nCov. The data obtained were analyzed by SPSS software version 21.
Results: In this study, the overall prevalence of COVID-19 and malaria coinfection was 71.4% while malaria and COVID-19 single infection were 14.3%,respectively. High percentage of co-infection observed in this study confirmed the immunological or protective effect of malaria on COVID-19 infection hence, low incidence of COVID-19 in malaria endemic area. It was also discovered in the study that men are more vulnerable than women.

Conclusion: It was discovered in this study that malaria and COVID-19 infection have common lymphocyte marker that bring about immunological protection on COVID-19 infection hence the low mortality rate among malaria endemic area. It was also discovered that men had higher susceptibility to COVID-19 infection than women as a result of testosterone inhibitory roles in immunological processes. Target to lymphocyte mark (CD147) receptor can be a target for COVID-19 treatment.