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Kogi: We bought 5,000 coronavirus test kits
Kogi State government has dismissed the notion that it’s not testing enough to justify the claim that the state is free of Covid-19. It claimed that it has bought 5,000 test kits to show its committment to the fight against Covid-19. The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, in it’s situation report on Covid-19 response across states published on Tuesday said Kogi had submitted only one sample, since the outbreak of the virus in Nigeria. The sample returned negative. The NCDC’s report comes few days after the state government said it tested 111 persons without the supervision of the health agency. Commissioner for Information, Kingsley Fanwo, had claimed that the testing kits procured by the state were used to conduct the tests and that those tested were picked randomly. In a statement...
WHO pledges to use ‘every tool’ to fight coronavirus
The World Health Organisation (WHO) would use every tool at its disposal to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, Tedros Ghebreyesus, the Director-General, has said. Ghebreyesus spoke at the closing of two-day virtual World Health Assembly in Geneva. In his speech posted on WHO website, Ghebreyesus said some of the recommendations from the assembly would be shared and be implemented. “WHO’s focus now is fighting the pandemic with every tool at its disposal. “Our focus is on saving lives. At the end of the day, what matters is life. That should be at the centre of everything we do and everything we say. “I’ve been heartened by the way countries have shared experiences, best practices through our regular Member State briefings and at this Assembly,’’ he said. The director general said the agency woul...
Minister advises on correct use of face masks
The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, has again advised Nigerians to use their face masks correctly, to protect themselves and others from contracting the dreaded coronavirus disease. The minister gave the advice at the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 daily news conference on Tuesday in Abuja. He said that no policing should be needed to do the right thing, urging citizens to abide by the mandatory and correct use of face masks for the protection of others. Ehanire said that masks worn, must be washed daily, ironed and where possible, masks should cover mouth and nose and should not be left under the chin during close contact conversations or its purpose would be defeated. “New understanding is that droplet dispersal takes place even during normal speech and common use of face mas...
House of Reps queries health minister on whereabouts of Chinese doctors
Lawmakers at the House of Representatives have questioned the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, demanding activities and whereabouts of the Chinese doctors. The lawmakers at their plenary on Tuesday said they are not satisfied with the statement of the Minister that the Chinese doctors are not guests of the Federal Ministry of Health but that of a Chinese firm in Abuja. The resolution of the House stems from a motion of urgent public importance raised by Representative Dachung Bagos. The House, in a separate motion, also resolved to investigate the status of medical and pharmaceutical research in the fight against COVID-19 in Nigeria. They expressed worry that Nigerian scientists and researchers have not been given the necessary support and funding for medical research. The Minister o...
Newborn baby tests positive for coronavirus in Russia
A baby was born with the coronavirus in Russia’s Caucasus region, health officials were quoted by TASS news agency as saying on Sunday, to a mother who is also infected. The birth in the North Ossetia city of Beslan follows one in mid-April in Peru, which health officials there said was the second known case of a COVID-19 positive newborn worldwide. In North Ossetia, “a pregnant woman was infected by the coronavirus, and her baby was born infected”, a regional health ministry spokesman was quoted by the state agency TASS as saying. “They are now at home, their state is satisfactory,” the spokesman added. The head of the hospital’s maternity unit, Hassan Tagaiev, was quoted by local television as saying that 17 of 35 women who were about to give birth there had tested positive for COVID-19....
Rivers monarchs accuse IGP of reversing presidential lockdown order
President Muhammadu Buhari has been asked to reverse the order of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) on the movement of agricultural produce, livestock, goods and services in Rivers State. The call was made on Saturday by the Rivers State Council of Traditional Rulers, which noted that the IGP had set up a Joint Technical Task Force at the instance of the Federal Ministries of Agricultural and Rural Development, Defence, Environment as well as various security agencies, to ensure free and unhindered movement of food, livestock, agricultural inputs and others into the State. The State Chairman of the Council, King Dandeson Jaja, speaking on behalf of the council in Port Harcourt wondered why the IGP would unilaterally lift the ban on the Presidential order restricting interstate movement...
Coronavirus: Lagos begins chloroquine clinical trial this week
The Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Gbenga Omotoso, has said the state will this week commence the clinical trial treatment of COVID-19 using chloroquine as approved by NAFDAC. The state, which is the epicentre of the virus in the country, had previously disclosed plans to carry out the chloroquine clinical trial. Omotoso, in an interview with newsmen on Saturday, said, “We are ready for the chloroquine clinical trial because we have just secured all the approvals. The documentation has also been completed. Those that will be used for the trials are ready too. By next week we should be ready for the trial. “Also, Lagos got a supply of additional 20,000 testing kits, although we were expecting 40,000. It means that the testing will increase now.” In a related devel...
55 Coronavirus patients discharged in Jigawa
The Jigawa State Government has announced the discharge of 55 Coronavirus patients who tested negative twice for the virus. Auwal D Sankara, Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on New Media, said in a statement that 55 COVID-19 patients were confirmed to have been cured and discharged after testing negative twice in Jigawa state, Northwest Nigeria. This brings the total number of discharged patients in the state to 62, with three fatalities. The statement quoted the Commissioner for Health and the chairman of the state Task Force on COVID-19, Dr Abba Zakari, as saying that the state was hoping to discharge more soon. Meanwhile, the commissioner said the state has recorded 15 additional cases and imposed lockdown in three additional towns affected to prevent further spread of the virus...
Coronavirus: African football must wait – CAF chief
CAF president, Ahmad Ahmad, has stated that African football must wait till the coronavirus pandemic is over. He said health comes first before football and as such, it is better that the pandemic is managed and curtailed before football resumes in the continent. He said: “As we see the ratio of tests that have been carried out in these countries, it is always alarming because we lack visibility in the management of this pandemic. “There is a lack of visibility. We must wait. As president, I invite everyone to be very careful and wait for the situation to normalize. But beyond that, I do not want football to be a source of destabilization for the precautionary measures taken by the various governments to deal with the pandemic. “The whole world is facing a very important health crisis, and...
PTF: Stop stigmatisation of coronavirus patients
Worried by the negative impacts on the society, the Presidential Task Force on Coronavirus (Covid-19) Pandemic has warned the public to desist from stigmatization of Covid-19 patients. This warning was given on Friday by Dr. Sani Aliyu, PTF National Coordinator, during the daily press briefing in Abuja. He lamented the growing cases of stigmatization of Covid-19 patients, saying that this state of affairs will not augur well for the fight against the pandemic in Nigeria. “Stigmatization of Covid-19 patients can only make many who have the disease to go underground and by that singular act the virus will continue to spread. When we stigmatize people who have contracted the virus it is obvious that many other people will be afraid to come clean. The carriers will be afraid to come forward fo...
Official: Why 471 persons died in Yobe in three weeks
Dr. Mohammed Lawan, Yobe Commissioner for Health, on Tuesday gave reasons for the 471 deaths recorded across different communities in the State in the past three weeks amidst fears that the deadly COVID-19 virus may has been claiming lives in the State without notice. Lawan, who is the Vice Chairman of the state’s COVID-19 Committee, however, said the deaths which occurred between the last days of April till date was not due to the global pandemic, according to preliminary report of the investigative response team constituted by the government. According to him, 90 per cent of the deaths had no multiple case definition symptoms of Coronavirus disease, while further noting that most of those that died were elderly people. According to him, “57 per cent of the total deaths had an underlying ...
Nigeria increases coronavirus testing above 27, 000
The Federal Government on Monday said the country has ramped up testing for the coronavirus to 27,078. Osagie Ehanire, the Minister of Health, disclosed this in Abuja at the Presidential Taskforce (PTF) briefing on COVID-19 in the country. Ehanire said this has yielded about 4,399 cases in 35 states with a gender ratio of 30 per cent to 70 per cent of men and women. He said 778 persons have been discharged with 143 deaths. The minister added that personnel in federal hospitals participated in a multi-national teleconference with medical and academic experts in Beijing on the COVID-19 treatment strategy of China. “Our COVID-19 response must become a concerted national collaborative drive to become more effective. “This requires synergies across all tiers of government levels which should be...
