Television Nigerian

More than 1 million people worldwide have been confirmed to be infected with the coronavirus but the actual number could be as high as 10 million, said Australia’s top doctor on Friday.

Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy gave the estimate during a press conference with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison in Canberra, stating the disparity is due to some countries’ inability to test.

“Worldwide, we’ve now passed a million reported cases of COVID-19,” he said. “We believe that the true number is probably five or 10 times as much as that because we know that judging by the death rate, the testing rate in many countries, they are not detecting all the cases. There are some countries that don’t have the capacity to test.”

Australia has more than 5,300 cases and 27 deaths due to the virus, but he is sure of those numbers as he is “pretty confident” Australia has “the best testing” in the world.

Murphy said the coronavirus growth rate in Australia has been dropping every day due to measures the government has implemented, including strict social distancing guidelines and the closing of its borders.

Asked whether he trusts China’s confirmed numbers, Murphy replied the only numbers he has “total faith in are the Australian numbers.”

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The Mexican brewer of Corona beer says it is suspending production because of the health emergency in the country over the COVID-19 pandemic.

Grupo Modelo – whose brands also include Pacifico and Modelo – said the measure was in line with the Mexican government’s order to suspend all non-essential activities until April 30 to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

“We are in the process of lowering production at our plants to the bare minimum,” the company said in a statement on Thursday, adding it would complete the suspension in the coming days.

Since the start of the virus crisis, Corona beer has been the punchline of jokes and memes, and an online rumour said sales in the US dropped by about 40 percent after the outbreak.

However, in late February, Constellation Brands, which owns the Corona label, denied the rumour and said sales had stayed strong in the US even as the virus spread internationally.

Mexico’s government has said only key sectors such as agribusiness will be able to continue to function.

Grupo Modelo said it was ready to operate with 75 percent of its staff working remotely to guarantee the supply of beer, if the government agreed.

Mexico’s other major beer producer Heineken – which makes the Tecate and Dos Equis brands – could also stop activities on Friday, the Reforma newspaper said, although the company did not confirm the report.

On Wednesday, the northern state of Nuevo Leon, where Heineken’s Mexican operations are based, said it would stop the production and distribution of beer, which led to panic buying.

Mexico has so far registered more than 1,500 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 50 deaths.

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Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has dismissed a notice directing members of the public to a web link to access funds.

Atiku said in a statement on Thursday by his media adviser, Paul Ibe, that any link requesting for the bio-data of people as beneficiaries of monetary handout was fake.

“The website address, https//www.atikufoundation.online, given by the scammers for individuals to apply, is unknown to the former Vice-President,” the statement read.

“As a patriotic and law-abiding citizen, the Waziri Adamawa has pledged his modest public donation to the Federal Government through the Priam Group. In addition, he has proposed stimulus package for the most vulnerable for consideration by government.

“We hereby call on relevant security agencies to unmask these scammers and ensure that they are brought to book and their evil plots against Nigerians nipped in the bud.”

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Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, says he has tested negative for the coronavirus (COVID-19).

Tweeting on Friday, Mr Sanwo-Olu said his family and aides also tested negative.

“As a responsible leader, it was important that I get tested for #COVID19 to ensure nothing distracts me from my role of leading Lagos during this period,” he wrote.

“I am happy to announce that my result has returned NEGATIVE. My family and aides are negative as well.”

The governor also lamented reports of social gathering and sporting events taking place in the state, describing them as “unfortunate.”

According to him, this could hamper the drive to tame the spread of the coronavirus, restating that anyone could be a carrier of the virus without showing signs immediately.

He said: “While we celebrate the small mercies, reports of youths gathering for social and sporting activities as well as those gathering for religious purposes are unfortunate. This kind of insensitivity could be the weak link in our collective effort to break the chain of transmission.

“Anyone could be a carrier of #COVID19 without showing symptoms immediately and looking at global transmission, one weak link can lead to community vulnerability.”

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On 12 January – less than three months ago – the coronavirus was confined to China. Not a single case had been found outside the country where it emerged.

And then, on 13 January, the virus became a global problem. A case was recorded in Thailand before Japan, South Korea and the United States soon followed.

Across the world, a trickle of cases became a flood.

There have now been more than a million Covid-19 cases worldwide, in countries from Nepal to Nicaragua. But as the death tolls rise, and the hospitals overflow, is anywhere still coronavirus-free?

The answer, perhaps surprisingly, is yes.

There are 193 countries which are members of the United Nations.

As of 2 April, 18 countries had not reported a Covid-19 case, according to a BBC tally using data from Johns Hopkins University.

The 18 countries without Covid-19

Comoros; Kiribati; Lesotho; Marshall Islands; Micronesia; Nauru; North Korea; Palau; Samoa; Sao Tome and Principe; Solomon Islands; South Sudan; Tajikistan; Tonga; Turkmenistan; Tuvalu; Vanuatu, Yemen

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By Bukola Olasanmi

The vaccine for the treatment of the dreaded coronavirus will be ready as soon as the testing is completed, the Chairman of the Imo State Taskforce on Covid-19, Prof. Maurice Iwu said on Thursday.

Mr Iwu gave the assurance in Owerri, where he presented a plant-based patented treatment for COVID-19 which is presently being tested in United States to the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu.

The professor of Pharmacognosy from the University of Nigeria Nsukka’s (UNN), presentation had followed on the heels of Seplat Petroleum  and Waltersmith Oil Limited’s donation of Covid-19 preventive material to the state government. Prof.  Iwu disclosed that there is a positive sign that it would soon be ready.

“The work on the drug we are developing is still going on. We are encouraged by the result we are getting. We are getting very positive signs.”

He disclosed further “luckily the drug is a safe one.  It is drug already in use.  We are repurposing it for this particular purpose. So when we finished the studying and testing we are doing, I think the drug will come up in line very soon. ”

Most importantly, he added “if the pandemic escalates, the NAFDAC will know what to do, like they did  in USA to fast track the use of chloroquine.”

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