COVID-19
Las Vegas Pool Clubs Set to Reopen in March 2021 With Social Distancing Measures
As the COVID-19 pandemic rages on, a number of marquee Las Vegas pool clubs are set to reopen after a year of unprecedented cancellations and layoffs. The imminent return of the clubs are attributed to Directive 037, a new edict signed and executed by Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak on February 14th that eases COVID-19 restrictions across the state. The order effectively relaxed restrictions on public gatherings by allowing those of 100 people, or 35% of a venue’s capacity—whichever is less. In January, Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman said that Las Vegas is “ready to welcome back the world” in her annual State of the City address. Famed MGM Grand pool party destination Wet Republic, which has featured electronic music superstars such as Ma...
Police arrest protesters for allegedly violating coronavirus regulations
The police, on Wednesday, arrested six protesters for allegedly violating COVID-19 protocols in Ilorin, Kwara State. The protesters are teachers sacked by the Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq government and were protesting the ongoing exercise for recruitment of new teachers. This newspaper, last week, reported how the protesters blocked the gate to the governor’s office, demanding their reabsorption. The protesters had resumed their demonstration on Wednesday. However, the spokesperson of the police in the state, Ajayi Okasanmi, said a woman and five men were arrested for inciting disturbance and violating COVID-19 protocols. Those arrested are Aransiola Olubukun, Salaudeen Abubakar, Mohammed Soliu, Ibahim Alabi, Isiaka Toyin and Adewale Abdulazeez. “This offence was committed in the proce...
NLC: Nigeria’s insecurity, poverty getting out of control
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) on Wednesday held their National Executive Council (NEC) meeting, at the Nigerian Airforce Conference Centre, Abuja, where they lamented the precarious state of insecurity and economic woes in the country. According to President of the NLC Ayuba Wabba, hardly does any day passes by without one negative report of citizens either kidnapped or abducted for payment of ransome. Lamenting the situation, Wabba said our beloved country has never been emmeshed in the grips of insecurity turbulence and crisis as we witness today. He said in the past two years or so, we have witnessed an intense resurgence of terrorism, armed banditry, kidnap-for-ransom, militancy and resource conflicts all over the country. According to him, there is also the challenge of criminals ...
5 Cybersecurity Threats to the COVID-19 Vaccine
Image sourced from TimesLIVE Cybercrimes have increased since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic with hackers becoming heavily resourced, especially now with nations across the world in the implementation stages of rolling out vaccines. Hackers have found sophisticated ways to target the organisations that have valuable data such as vaccine development, trials, etc. Here are X cybersecurity threats to the COVID-19 vaccine: 1. Cyber Espionage to Steal Vaccine Data A viable vaccine is valuable intellectual property. Beyond the pharmaceutical formula itself, even data on testing and drug trials can be valuable to an organisation working to develop its own drug. With countries struggling to secure an effective vaccine, such data is a tempting target. In late 2020, North Korean...
St. Patricks Day Rave Planned for 5,000 in Defiance of Ireland’s Lockdown Orders
In a brazen defiance of Ireland’s lockdown policy, a group of organizers are promoting an illicit St. Patrick’s Day event that they say will not be discovered by law enforcement. Social media accounts on Instagram and Snapchat promoting the “Paddys Day Lockdown Rave” have captured the attention of thousands. In an attempt to thwart the possibility of being fully removed from social media, the group has created backup accounts to continue publicizing the event. The organizers state the location of the forthcoming event will be given out 12 hours before its kickoff, which is scheduled for 3PM on March 17th, 2021. Dublin Live “We just have to be safe. The warehouse picked out for the event can hold up to 5,000 people and will be in the north Kildare/Dublin ...
Dutch Music Festivals Reschedule Dates After Government Promises Financial Reimbursement for Forced Cancellations
The Dutch government has allocated a €300 million fund allowing organizers of large scale events, including music festivals, to seek access to financial reimbursement in case their events are forcibly cancelled. Events eligible for such government support will need to be taking place between July 1st and the end of 2021, a timeframe that is already creating a strong incentive for organizers to reschedule their events to Q3 or Q4 of 2021. A slew of festivals including Awakenings, DGTL, Dauwpop, Paaspop, Utrecht Central Park Festival, and Zwarte Cross have already taken the leap, announcing new dates for September of this year. Despite the shuffle, ticket holders are standing by as 85% of tickets for the 2021 edition of Utrecht Central Park Festival were sold last year. Meanwhile, ...
Israel plans to reopen restaurants in March, restart tourism with Cyprus
Israel plans to reopen restaurants around March 9 and restart tourism with Cyprus as part of a gradual return to normality thanks to a COVID-19 vaccination campaign, officials said on Sunday. With more than 41% of Israelis having received at least one shot of Pfizer Inc’s vaccine, Israel has said it will partially reopen hotels and gyms on Feb. 23 to those fully inoculated or deemed immune after recovering from COVID-19. To gain entry, these beneficiaries would have to present a “Green Pass”, displayed on a Health Ministry app linked to their medical files. The app’s rollout is due this week. Nachman Ash, the national pandemic-response coordinator, said the reopening of hotel dining rooms, restaurants and cafes would happen “around March 9”. “We want to open gradually, carefully so we don’...
How to Forge an Inclusive Economic Recovery in Africa
Sourced from Redbubble and iStock. The spread of COVID-19 in many African countries has been more contained than some had expected in 2020. Experts have predicted that the economic fallout of the pandemic for Africans, however, will be different and direr than for the rest of the world. The reason is that Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for more than half of the world’s populations living at or below the poverty line. A recent World Bank scenario estimates that COVID-19 could push up to 40 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa into extreme poverty, seriously eroding the progress that African countries have made to reduce deprivation during the past two decades. Africa’s economic recovery from the COVID-19 crisis depends on how effectively governments will be able to balance urgent actions to st...
Police charge Lekki tollgate protesters with ‘breaching public peace, coronavirus protocol’
The police in Lagos have charged 40 protesters arrested at the Lekki tollgate on Saturday to court, for breaching public peace. The arrested protesters include, Debo Adebayo, popularly known as Mr Macaroni, Dabiraoluwa Adeyinka, Damilare Adenola, Anjorin Joseph, Paul Terkuma and Anisere Sodiq. The protesters were charged at the Magistrate Court of Lagos State, Yaba. In the charge sheet obtained by newsmen, they were charged on three counts including failing to comply with the “Quarantine Law which prohibit any social gathering to avoid spreading and contacting of Coronavirus Disease”. The other charges are “breach of public peace, harassment, and causing unnecessary alarm to the public”. Newsmen earlier reported the arrest of the protesters and how they were manhandled by police officers. ...
Iran’s president warns of coronavirus ‘fourth wave’
Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani warned Saturday of a Covid-19 “fourth wave” as cases rise in certain areas of the Middle Eastern country hardest hit by the pandemic. “This is a warning for all of us,” Rouhani said in televised remarks. He said some cities in the southwestern province of Khuzestan were now “red” — the highest on Iran’s colour-coded risk level — after weeks of low alert levels across the country. “This means the beginning of moving towards the fourth wave. We all have to be vigilant to prevent this,” Rouhani added. The country of more than 80 million people has lost close to 59,000 lives out of more than 1.5 million cases of Covid infection. Iran has officially registered less than 7,000 daily infections since late December, but the number has crossed this level since early ...
Police warn against unlawful gathering in Osun
The Police in Osun has warned against unlawful gathering or blocking of free-flow of traffic in the state. In a statement by the police spokesperson in the state, Yemisi Opalola, the police said it had information that some unscrupulous elements were planning to start an #EndSARS solidarity protest in the state. “The intelligence availed the command revealed that some unscrupulous elements are planning to embark on unlawful gathering, in solidarity with #EndSARS protesters elsewhere. “The commissioner of police has advised that this unlawful plan should be jettisoned. “He has warned that the command will not condone any act that will jeopardise the peace and tranquillity presently enjoyed in the state. “Note also that gathering of any sort now is unlawful and a violation of COVID-19 laws. ...
The CDC Recommends Wearing Two Masks At Once
Source: CDV.gov / CDC When the COVID-19 pandemic began to spread in the United States in early 2020, the Trump led CDC initially downplayed the need for masks to help curb the spread of the virus because, well, Trump was in charge. Now that the Biden/Harris administration has assumed control of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Americans are finally getting some non-politically motivated advice and anti-maskers about to be big mad at their latest recommendation. According to Buzz Feed News, the CDC released a new study on Wednesday (February 10) which found that not only is wearing a mask an effective tool in protecting yourself and others from the coronavirus, but wearing two at the same time helps even more. That’s right. The CDC wants you to double-up on masks like we do o...
