Home Blog Page 2478

Covid 19: We may be forced to treat victims at home, taskforce cries out

0

By Bukola Olasanmi

The Director-General of Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on Thursday made an outcry about inadequate bed spaces to accommodate COVID-19 patients in isolation centres.

Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu said Lagos State is the worst-hit by this challenge of inadequate bed spaces although Kano State and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) are also affected.

He stated this while responding to questions from journalists at the Presidential Task Force briefing on COVID-19 in Abuja. Ihekweazu added that although there are about 3,500 bed spaces available across the country, this is insufficient and it leaves the infectious disease control agency to struggle.

The team said it may be forced to treat patients at home

“In response to the question about bed spaces. There is not doubt about that, we are struggling in certain places especially in Lagos. To an extent Kano and Abuja too but the biggest challenge right now is in Lagos where bad spaces are really tight.

“Across the country we have about 3500 bed spaces identified as available for COVID-19 but in Lagos we are really struggling. So, we are going to keep trying to work with them to make more spaces available and ultimately,” he said.

The NCDC boss added that due to this challenge, there might be need for a change of strategy and start treating some patients at home.

“We might have to change our strategy a little bit and start considering home care in certain circumstances where the person is able to provide a room where a patient can be managed sufficiently and secondly, we are able to support the care by enabling healthcare workers come to that.

“We will always be honest with Nigerians, we are struggling at the moment we might have to adapt that strategy because of the reality we have faced over the next few days and weeks,” Ihekweazu said.

Nigeria currently has 1,728 confirmed cases of COVID-19 across 34 states of the country including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

Only 307 persons have been discharged while 51 deaths have, so far, been recorded.

COVID-19: Govt Offices, Banks Can Open From Monday, Says PTF

0

The Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 has announced that government offices and banks can resume operations from Monday the 4th of May.

This follows the approval of a phased easing of the lockdown in Lagos, Ogun and the Federal Capital Territory, by President Muhammadu Buhari, to allow for the restoration of socio-economic activities.

However, there would be a 6:00 am to 8:00 pm curfew to regulate the movement of people.

Giving a breakdown of how the easing of the lockdown will be implemented, the National Coordinator of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Aliyu Sani, during Wednesday’s briefing, said all government offices and banks can resume operations from Monday.

“For government offices, staff will be allowed to resume from the 4th of May but it will be based on specific grade levels and specific days, so that we can reduce the amount of congestion that we might have in the offices,” he said.

For financial institutions such as banks, the PTF coordinator noted that they will be allowed to open but only between 8:00 am and 2:00 pm, while also ensuring that staff and customers adhere to the hygiene and social distancing measures.

Aliyu stressed that the easing of the lockdown is actually just a shift from one set of interventions to another.

“The most important thing I want to emphasize is, even though we talk about easing the lockdown, in actual fact, we are not really easing, we are just shifting from one set of interventions to another because we are really still far from controlling this epidemic,” he said.

For general movements outside the curfew periods, the PTF coordinator said: “people may go out for work, to buy necessary food and for exercise but we strongly advise persons to restrict themselves to their local government areas except for those that live in metropolitan areas”.

Interstate travel, according to him, will be restricted to only those involved in the supply chain and services such as goods, agricultural products, petroleum products, courier services and relief items etc.

On the other hand, for intrastate movement, services and businesses were advised to provide hand sanitizers for customers.

The general public was also advised to imbibe the use of face masks and other hygiene measures.

On the issue of mass gatherings, Aliyu said there shall be no gatherings of more than 20 persons anywhere per time so as to ensure adherence to physical distancing.

For the manufacturing sector, “we encourage shift work for manufacturing and pharmaceutical companies and limiting staff to only 30-50% to maintain physical distancing and pharmacy shops may remain open overnight,” he said.

Restaurants have been asked not open to the public but will be allowed to engage in home deliveries of food items.

While partial operations will be allowed for the above sectors, academic institutions were, however, advised to remain closed until further evaluation is done.

“Schools are encouraged to continue with e-learning and virtual teaching”, the PTF coordinator added.

Trump ‘confident’ coronavirus may have originated in Chinese lab

0
President Donald Trump

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday he was confident the coronavirus originated in a Chinese virology lab but declined to provide any evidence for his claim that is likely to further increase tension with China over the origins of the pandemic.

Trump told reporters at the White House that evidence he had seen gave him a “high degree of confidence” the virus came from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

“Yes, yes I have,” he said, declining to give specifics. “I can’t tell you that. I’m not allowed to tell you that.”

The Chinese state-backed Wuhan Institute of Virology has dismissed the allegations, and other officials in the United States have downplayed the idea. Intelligence agencies said on Thursday that the virus was “not man-made or genetically modified”, but that they were still investigating whether there could have been a lab accident or leak.

Most experts believe the virus originated in a market selling wildlife in Wuhan and jumped from animals to people.

Trump has shown increasing frustration with China in recent weeks over the pandemic, which has cost tens of thousands of lives across the world and triggered an unprecedented global economic contraction. The US has recorded more deaths from COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus, than any other country, and the outbreak is threatening Trump’s chances of re-election in November.

The Republican president told reporters that US agencies were investigating how the virus first emerged and what China had done to prevent it from spreading to the rest of the world.

“We’ll be able to get a very powerful definition of what happened,” Trump said, adding that a report would be made to him in the “not too distant future”.

He has said previously his administration was trying to determine whether the coronavirus emanated from the Wuhan lab, following media reports it may have been artificially synthesised at a China state-backed laboratory or perhaps escaped from such a facility.

Deepening rift

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Thursday it was not known whether the virus came from the lab.

“We don’t know if it came from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. We don’t know if it emanated from the wet market or yet some other place. We don’t know those answers,” Pompeo said in an interview with Iowa station Newsradio 1040.

The spread of the coronavirus has contributed to a deepening rift between the Trump administration and China. Beijing has suggested the US military might have brought the virus to China and Trump has said China failed to alert the world to the risks in a timely and transparent fashion.

Other countries have also been drawn into the dispute with Australia under pressure from China over its backing for an independent global inquiry into the virus’ origins.

 

Trump also said on Thursday it was possible that China either could not stop the spread of the coronavirus or let it spread. He declined to say whether he held Chinese President Xi Jinping responsible for what he feels is misinformation about the emergence of the coronavirus.

Trump said of China’s efforts to get to the bottom of how the virus emerged: “At least they seem to be trying to be somewhat transparent with us.”

“But we’re going to find out. You’ll be learning in the not-too-distant future. But it’s a terrible thing that happened – whether they made a mistake or whether it started off as a mistake and then they made another one. Or did somebody do something on purpose?” he said.

‘Destructive policies’: Turkey slams UAE over Middle East, Africa

0

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday accused the United Arab Emirates of pursuing “destructive policies” in northern Africa and the Middle East and called on the Emiratis to abandon what it called a “hostile attitude” towards Ankara.

The comments from Turkey followed a statement from the UAE that called on all Libyan parties to commit to the United Nations-supervised political process to end the war, but also saluted the army led by renegade military commander Khalifa Haftar and rejected Turkish military intervention on behalf of the country’s UN- recognized government.

Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy said the remarks were an attempt by the UAE to “hide their two-faced politics” and said the country was providing aid to “putschists” in Libya.

Turkey backs the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) and has signed a military cooperation agreement to help the fight against Haftar. The government in Ankara has repeatedly urged world powers to stop supporting Haftar’s forces, which it deems “putschists.”

In its Thursday statement, the Emirati Foreign Ministry said it “commends the Libyan National Army for conducting anti-terror operations,” and expressed “its categorical rejection of the Turkish military intervention” in support of the GNA.

The UAE statement did not comment directly on Haftar’s declaration on Monday that his army would take power, ripping up a 2015 political agreement that has been the basis for all international peacemaking efforts.

‘Hostile stance’

Aksoy said the “ugly” and “baseless” allegations that had been made by the UAE administration were attempts to cover up its own “destructive policies”, the Turkish news agency Anadolu reported.

Sources told Al Jazeera on Thursday that several top Emirati officials were on a visit to Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, to rally support and recruit fighters for Haftar.

“The UAE’s actions disrupting international peace, security and stability not just in Libya, but all the region, including Yemen, Syria and Africa, are well known to the international community,” Aksoy said in a statement.

“We call on the UAE leadership to avoid taking a hostile stance against our country and to know its place.”

Yemen’s civil war erupted late in 2014 when Iran-aligned Houthi rebels seized the capital, Sanaa, along with much of the country’s north and overthrew the internationally-recognised government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

Nominally, the Hadi government and the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) are part of an “Arab coalition” fighting against the Houthis.

However, Hadi’s government is mainly supported by Saudi Arabia, where it operates, while the STC and its leaders are based in the UAE.

Earlier this week, the STC announced self-rule in Yemen’s southern provinces and the key port city of Aden, which it has controlled since 2015 in a move analysts said could create the conditions for perpetual conflict.

Facebook plans to let content creators, musicians charge for livestream access

0

Facebook Live will be overhauled as the coronavirus lockdown forces entertainment industries online.

Facebook has announced sweeping changes to its Facebook Live platform, including plans to let artists charge for entry to concert livestreams.

Other changes include the return of Live With, which allows co-hosts to join a stream, and the integration of livestreams into online-only event pages.

In an announcement titled “Introducing Messenger Rooms and more ways to connect when you’re apart,” the company says, “To support creators and small businesses, we plan to add the ability for Pages to charge for access to events with Live videos on Facebook – anything from online performances to classes to professional conferences.”

The company has not detailed the Facebook Live payment system or when it will come into effect, so its commission rate remains to be seen. Under the same plan, events such as classes and conferences will also be able to collect payment. In the meantime, donation links have been activated for streams benefiting nonprofits, according to the announcement.

The company also announced that it will be expanding its “Stars” tipping system to musicians — in it, a performer can receive “tips” when users send them a “Star,” although with a $.01 tip per star, a market run will require a whole lot of “Stars.”

The online concert industry has been forced into overdrive amid the coronavirus outbreak, with artists across the spectrum live-streaming concerts, usually for free.

Platforms such as Stagelt offer payment and tipping options, while some artists—including Erykah Badu—have found ways to charge for access through conventional channels like Instagram and YouTube.

Buhari Extends Tenure of NDDC Interim Management Committee

0

President Muhammadu Buhari has extended the tenure of the Professor Keme Pondei-led Interim Management Committee of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) from May 1 to December 31, 2020.

This is according to a communique by the President’s special aide, Femi Adesina.

In his statement, the special adviser noted that the extension is to cover the period of the forensic audit of the NDDC, earlier approved by the Federal Executive Council, under the chairmanship of the President.

In the same vein, President Buhari equally approved that the NDDC provides intervention support to complement efforts of the Federal and State governments against further spread of COVID-19 in the nine States of the Niger Delta region, in the sum of Six Billion, Two Hundred and Fifty Million Naira (N6,250,000,000.00) only.

The materials and supplies are to be done through Emergency Procurement method as provided in Sections 42(b) (c) and 43 of the Public Procurement Act, 2007.

Coronavirus vaccine breakthrough as scientists confirm plans for mass-production

0

The UK coronavirus vaccine has taken a major step forwards after scientists revealed plans for mass-production if trials are successful.

The University of Oxford has partnered with pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca for the development, manufacture and large-scale distribution of the Covid-19 vaccine candidate that is currently being trialled in the UK.

The agreement was announced on Thursday, with the details set to be finalised in the coming weeks.

The move will allow for rapid vaccination around the world if the candidate proves to be effective, the university said.

Human trials of the vaccine developed by the University’s Jenner Institute began last week, with hundreds of people volunteering to be part of the study which received £20 million in Government funding.

Professor Sir John Bell, Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford University described the partnership with AstraZeneca as a “major force in the struggle against pandemics” for the foreseeable future.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Sir John said he hoped that some results from a human trial of the vaccine would be available by the middle of June.

He told Today that the challenge now is to be able to manufacture at scale once it is approved by the regulators.

Sir John added: “We also want to make sure that the rest of the world will be ready to make this vaccine at scale so that it gets to populations in developing countries, for example, where the need is very great.

“We really need a partner to do that and that partner has a big job in the UK because our manufacturing capacity in the UK for vaccines isn’t where it needs to be, and so we are going to work together with AstraZeneca to improve that considerably.”

It is the first such partnership to be formed since the Government launched the Vaccines Taskforce two weeks ago to help find a new coronavirus vaccine.

Both partners have agreed to operate on a not-for-profit basis for the duration of the pandemic, the university said, with only the costs of production and distribution being covered.

Fewer people are having sex during COVID-19 lockdown, says Durex

0

Fewer people having sex during lockdown has resulted in falling condoms sales, the maker of Durex has said.

Laxman Narasimhan, chief of executive of Reckitt Benckiser – a British household goods company that bought Durex in 2010 – said sales had dropped because social distancing is affecting “intimate occasions”.

People in the UK are having sex “significantly” less sex than before lockdown was introduced last month, said Narasimhan. In Italy, the number of people having intercourse had “gone down a lot”.

“What you see is this virus is having a toll on the number of intimate occasions in the UK,” said Narasimhan.

Increased anxiety had also led to less sex between established couples, according to Narasimhan.

On 23 March, Prime Minister Johnson announced a nation-wide lockdown, with couples later being asked to either move in with each other or commit to quaratining themselves separately.

Speaking at the daily press conference on March 24, Jenny Harries, the deputy chief medical officer, said: “If the two halves of a couple are currently in separate households, ideally they should stay in those households.

“The alternative might be that, for quite a significant period going forwards, they should test the strength of their relationship and decide whether one wishes to be permanently resident in another household.”

She added: “So perhaps, test really carefully your strength of feeling, stay with the household, either together or apart, but keep it that way while we go forward, because otherwise we will not all be working towards achieving our outcome.”

 

Kano topples FCT as Nigeria breaks record daily COVID-19 tally

0

Nigeria has once reached another grim coronavirus milestone, breaking its record daily case tally while also reporting its worst fatality in 24 hours.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), on Thursday, announced 204 new infections, the most since the dreaded contagion infiltrated the country in February.

Africa’s most populous black nation also suffered seven fatalities, its highest death in a single day.

It wasn’t all doom and gloom, however, as 64 patients recovered and were discharged.

In summary, the country has now recorded 1,932 cases,  319 recoveries and 58 deaths.

Kano State tallied the highest cases on Thursday with 80, moving above the Federal Capital Territory as the second-worst-hit.

The northwestern state, still reeling from a catastrophic week, culminating in several high-profile deaths, now has 219 infected persons.

Yet, judging by the controversial circumstances that led to these demises, more woes may be ahead, especially now it has drawn the nation’s interest.

The FCT picked up four new cases, sliding to third with 143.

Meanwhile, Lagos State, for now, steered clear of the landmark 1,000 cases after recording 40 fresh infections.

Gombe nipped a dozen, Bauchi and Sokoto garnered nine each while Borno and Edo shared 14 cases equally.

Rivers and Ogun had half-a-dozen each, Akwa Ibom and Bayelsa recorded two fewer with Kaduna (3), Oyo, Delta, Nasarawa (2 each) as well as Ondo and Kebbi (one each) completing the new cases.

Cross River and Kogi States, however, maintained their COVID-19 chastity, at least, for now.

Nguvan Kyenge: The Young Entrepreneur on Silent Revolution

0

Tall, slim and inspiring, Arch. Nguvan Kyenge is the personification of beauty with brain. She is one of the few Benue young women that have risen to fame outside the instrumentality of politics.

The architecture graduate, rightly too, has ascended the position of a mentor to hundreds of young Nigerians, inspiring them with her personal experiences.

Unassuming, the founder and CEO of Lush Events, was in 2017 certified as a member of the John Maxwell Team. Her knack for time, the most abused factor today is amazing. She even shared her thoughts about it.

She once told her audience about time management: “When you consciously continue giving excuses not to have time it becomes the greatest enemy of yourself, personal growth and improvement. Everyone has time. You just have to modify how you use it.

“In everything you do, you need to at every giving time, prioritise what is relevant; watch less movies and focus on things that can educate you, reduce time aimlessly chatting especially on social media.

“If you’re finding it difficult to managing your time, you can itemised the things you need to do for the day and work towards achieving them. In every giving opportunity use your time wisely.”

It is manifestly clear, that she understands and recognises the importance of time management. This way, she combines her professional job seamlessly with activities, including puttting forward platform that benefit her generation, offering limitless motivation and mentorship across Nigeria.

For instance, she is able to bring young enterprising Nigerians together on the platform of Entrepreneurship Network Nigeria, an organisation she serves as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Through this platform, she is giving young farmers advanced opportunities to improve yield and their income. Her expliots in this area have exhibited her as a true Tiv and Benue daughter, who is preocupied by farming activities.

The expert in beauty and decoration is known for giving every client of hers just what they need. This, she does with her firm belief in the power of the mind as the greatest engine to attaining higher heights in life and that the world revolves around what the mind thinks, says and acts upon and capable of deciding what will work or not.

Arch. Nguvan has shown through all intent and purposes that she is set out to impact positively on others particularly the youth through constant engagement as a vehicle for adding more value to the society.

In her world view, productivity and attainment of goals beyond individual mindset barriers in life is what makes a man, irrespective of mistakes.

“Mistakes are life’s way of teaching you. Your capacity for occasional blunders is inseparable from your capacity to reach your goals,” she reckons, adding: “No one wins them all, and your failures, when they happen, are just part of your growth.”

At every giving opportunity, she encourages youth to “shake off” their “blunders. How will you know your limits without an occasional failure? Never quit.Your turn will come okay.”

Hardworking, jovial, with love for music and home videos Arch. Nguvan uses her column: “The mindset series,” as a daily devotional to encouraging young people across the globe that are desirous to positively changing their stories.

The column, aside being regular on her Facebook Timeline, has proven to be a recipe for young persons for inspirational and motivational nuggets, ranking her very tall as an emerging life coach.

She learned the act of carving a niche for herself and impacting the society way back in her undegraduate days. Hear her: “In my final year in school, I sat with a senior colleague of mine, and in the course of our gist I mentioned with lots of admiration Architects around us making impact back then. He looked at me and said, Nguvan, you don’t have to “wish” thier life to make a mark, ‘carve your own niche.’”

Clearly, “Carve your Niche” struck a chord, stuck and have followed her to this day, as she consistently conquer uncommon grounds in not just Architecture but all that she is set out to do.

Notwithstanding her seemingly chronic nature as introvert and extremely shy personaility, her melancholic nature will often push over-analysis, logic and pessimism, yet always feeling “Not enough.”

A firm beliver in God, Arch. Nguvan believes the Almighty has placed something special in the hands of humans and none had to be like the other to be great.

“You mustn’t “know it all” to be great. You can employ the help of those who know while you focus on the little you think you know and master it well! Be you, be unique be different, Use your flavor,” she reasons.

While she is seen as being made, the architect with compassionate feelings belives she is still a work in progress. Ultimately, she encourages her listeners to think of different but unique values they can add to the status quo, thereby launching themselves to higher grounds.