Jigawa and Borno States have recorded their first cases of coronavirus.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control made this known on Sunday night via its Twitter handle.
It stated that the two states recorded their first cases while the total cases in the country rise to 627.
While two cases were reported in Jigawa, one was reported in Borno.
“Eighty-six new cases of COVID-19 have been reported; 70 in Lagos, 7 in FCT, 3 in Katsina, 3 in Akwa Ibom, 1 in Jigawa, 1 in Bauchi, 1 in Borno.
“One case previously reported in Kano has been transferred to Jigawa state. Therefore, the total number of confirmed cases in Kano is 36 as at the 19th of April 2020.
“As at 11:50 pm 19th April, there are 627 confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported in Nigeria,” it stated, adding that the total recoveries in the country were 170 while the total deaths were 21.
A breakdown of cases by states showed that Lagos has 376 cases, FCT has 88 infections, Kano has 36, Osun, 20; Oyo, 16; Edo, 15; Ogun, 12; Kwara, 9; Katsina, 12; Bauchi, 7; Kaduna, 6; Akwa Ibom, 9; Delta, 4; Ekiti- 3, Ondo, 3; Enugu, 2; Rivers, 2; Niger, 2; Benue, 1, Anambra, 1; Borno, 1; and Jigawa, 2.
The Federal Government has disclosed that following new revelations regarding the maltreatment of Nigerians in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province of China, it will immediately begin the process of evacuation of the affected people.
This is even as the government said it will take the necessary measures to ensure compensation for the Nigerians who were involved in the recent maltreatment in China.
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, who made the disclosure in Abuja, said he summoned the Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Dr Zhou Pingjian, for the second time since the reports surfaced in the media to register Nigeria’s displeasure over the development.
Onyeama explained that after the government’s earlier position on the matter, new revelations showed that the issue was more than what the government thought it was.
Onyeama further said the Nigerian Ambassador to China, Baba Ahmed Jidda, as well as other African ambassadors in China, met with the Chinese Foreign Ministry and expressed their concern and made a number of demands of the Chinese Government, including the insistence on the respect for the rights and dignity of Africans and Nigerians in Guangdong.
Onyeama, however, said the Government of China was committed to looking into the matter and ensuring that there will be no maltreatment of any Nigerian or Africans in Guangdong Province, in Guangzhou or anywhere else in China.
“After we had made a statement in the media, I continued to receive information from Nigerians in China and I engaged directly with our officials in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province and people who were right on the ground.
“And I must say that contrary to what we had believed, that the situation was now fully under control and stabilised and there were no longer any issues, it became apparent that there were still, very distressing incidences and that it was almost as if it was an institutional attack on the rights and dignity of Nigerians and Africans there.
“So, as I said, with confirmation from people who were there, I again, invited today, the Chinese Ambassador and presented these facts to him. I said look, contrary to what was agreed, to the promises that had been made and guarantees given, that the situation does not seem to have ameliorated and this was totally unacceptable.
“That we have stories of Nigerians who had been evicted from their residence, who were unable to get back in; hotels where they had gone to be isolated, they had been moved and put in more expensive hotels and Nigerians not being served when they went to restaurants and to shopping malls and so forth. And this was totally unacceptable and something needed to be done,” Onyeama said.
Speaking further, Onyeama said even though the narratives were conflicting, even sometimes among Africans in the area, but that there was clearly the main narrative, a persuasive narrative of unacceptable treatment of Nigerians and other Africans in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province.
He added that even though there was an effort to contain an outbreak of COVID-19, including some Africans who came into the country and tested positive, that was absolutely no reason whatsoever to completely trespass on the rights and dignity of Nigerians and Africans in the city.
“I spoke to some of our people there in Guangzhou. And what do we do? And where do we go from here? Quite a lot of them, of course, said that they just want to come home and we are putting in place as quickly as possible, the mechanisms to start bringing them home. That clearly is the immediate solution here,” Onyeama added.
The world’s biggest trial of drugs to treat Coronavirus patients has begun in the United Kingdom at unprecedented speed, and hopes to have some answers within weeks.
According to The Guardian, the Recovery trial has recruited more than 5,000 patients in 165 NHS hospitals around the UK in a month, ahead of similar trials in the US and Europe, which have a few hundred.
“This is by far the largest trial in the world,” said Peter Horby, professor of emerging infectious diseases and global health at Oxford University, who is leading it.
He has previously led Ebola drug trials in west Africa and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
The Recovery team expects to be the first to have definitive data. “We’re guessing some time in June we may get the results,” said Horby.
“If it is really clear that there are benefits, an answer will be available quicker.” But he warned that in the case of Covid-19, there would be no “magic bullet”.
WHO investigates reports of recovered coronavirus patients testing positive again
Reuters
On Friday, South Korea reported that 91 coronavirus patients being considered for discharge tested positive for the virus again.
The director of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the virus may have been “reactivated” rather than the patients being re-infected.
It remains unclear why the patients tested positive after initially testing negative for COVID-19 — WHO announced Saturday that it would be investigating the reports.
“As COVID-19 is a new disease, we need more epidemiological data to draw any conclusions,” WHO told Reuters.
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The World Health Organization (WHO) announced Saturday that it is investigating reports that coronavirus patients who initially tested negative tested positive for the virus days later.
“We are aware of these reports of individuals who have tested negative for COVID-19 using PCR (polymerase chain reaction) testing and then after some days testing positive again,” a WHO spokesperson told Reuters”.
On Friday, South Korea reported that 91 coronavirus patients they believed to have recovered from the disease tested positive for the virus again.
Guidelines from WHO on clinical management recommended that a clinically recovered COVID-19 patient should test negative for the virus twice, with tests conducted at least 24 hours apart, before being discharged from the hospital.
The COVID-19 patients in South Korea were being considered for discharge after testing negative for the disease — however, tests administered later showed positive results.
South Korean health officials said they would be launching epidemiological investigations to determine what was behind the trend.
Jeong Eun-kyeong, the director of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a news briefing that the virus may have “reactivated” in the patients, as opposed to the patients being re-infected again, Bloomberg reported.
“While we are putting more weight on reactivation as the possible cause, we are conducting a comprehensive study on this,” Jeong said Monday. “There have been many cases when a patient during treatment will test negative one day and positive another.”
The number of patients who were believed to have been cleared of the coronavirus but later tested positive jumped from 51 on Monday to 91 on Friday. Shortly after, WHO announced it would also be looking into the recent COVID-19 trend in South Korea as well.
“We are closely liaising with our clinical experts and working hard to get more information on those individual cases. It is important to make sure that when samples are collected for testing on suspected patients, procedures are followed properly,” a spokesperson for WHO told Reuters in a statement.
According to WHO, current studies show that patients with mild COVID-19 experience a period of about two weeks between the onset of symptoms and clinical recovery. But it remains unclear why these patients are testing positive after they were believed to have recovered from COVID-19.
“As COVID-19 is a new disease, we need more epidemiological data to draw any conclusions,” the statement added.
More than 390,000 people worldwide have recovered from the coronavirus, according to data collected by John Hopkins.
Infectious disease experts, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, believe that “people who recover [from COVID-19] are really protected against re-infection.”
People who have been infected develop antibodies that can “probably fight off the coronavirus if they encounter it again,” making them temporarily immune to the coronavirus, according to Business Insider’s Morgan McFall-Johnsen. However, it’s unclear how long the protection lasts, she added.
Recently, Dr. Anthony Fauci said people who recovered from the coronavirus will likely be immune should a second wave of infection spread in the early fall. But preliminary studies about coronavirus immunity show that not all recovered patients develop the antibodies needed to protect ourselves from the virus.
Africa could become the next epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned.
UN officials also say it is likely the pandemic will kill at least 300,000 people in Africa and push nearly 30 million into poverty.
The past week in Africa has seen a sharp rise in coronavirus cases.
There have been almost 1,000 deaths and almost 19,000 infections across Africa, so far much lower rates than in parts of Europe and the US.
The UN Economic Commission for Africa – which warned 300,000 could die – called for a $100bn (£80bn) safety net for the continent, including halting external debt payments.
The WHO says the virus appears to be spreading away from African capitals.
It has also highlighted that the continent lacks ventilators to deal with a pandemic.
More than a third of Africa’s population lacks access to adequate water supplies and nearly 60% of urban dwellers live in overcrowded slums – conditions where the virus could thrive.
How bad is the situation in Africa?
There are almost 19,000 confirmed cases in Africa and at least 970 confirmed deaths across the whole continent, which has a population of about 1.3 billion.
North Africa is the worst affected region. Algeria, Egypt and Morocco have all had more than 2,000 cases and at least 100 deaths. Algeria has had the most deaths, with 348.
Elsewhere, South Africa has also had more than 2,000 cases, with 48 deaths, while the continent’s most populous nation, Nigeria, has had 442 cases and 13 confirmed deaths out of a population of some 200 million.
Why are there fewer cases compared with Europe and the US?
WHO Africa director Dr Matshidiso Moeti told BBC Global Health correspondent Tulip Mazumdar that international travel played a part.
“If you look at the proportion of people who travel, Africa has fewer people who are travelling internationally,” she said.
But now that the virus is in within Africa, she says that her organisation is acting under the assumption that it will spread just as quickly as elsewhere.
The Chief of Staff to the President, Mallam Abba Kyari, is dead.
He died on Friday at age 81.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Garba Shehu, said the deceased died of COVID-19.
Announcing Kyari’s death via his verified Twitter handle, @GarShehu, Shehu wrote, “The Presidency regrets to announce the passage of the Chief of Staff to the President, Mallam Abba Kyari.
“The deceased had tested positive to the ravaging COVID-19, and had been receiving treatment. But he died on Friday, April 17, 2020.”
Shehu said funeral arrangements for the deceased would be announced soon.
The Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, also wrote via his verified Twitter handle @FemAdesina, “Chief of Staff to the President, Mallam Abba Kyari, passes on. May God rest his soul. Amen. Funeral arrangements to be announced soon.”
Kyari had tested positive for the coronavirus in March after a trip to Germany and Egypt.
Doctors attending to the late Chief of Staff had obtained his medical records from Wellington Hospital, St John’s Wood, London, which showed that he (Kyari) had some other ailments that could hamper his rate of recovery from COVID-19.
The Wellington Hospital, which is located in North London, is the largest independent hospital in the United Kingdom.
Kyari, in a letter on March 29, had said he was conveyed to Lagos on an air ambulance to do additional tests and observation, adding that he took the decision based on medical advice as a precautionary measure.
He further stated that he made his personal care arrangements to avoid further burdening the public health system, which faces so much pressure.
However, the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, refused to disclose where Kyari was receiving treatment.
The Commissioner for Health in Lagos State, Prof. Akin Abayomi, later said he did not know Kyari’s location thereby sparking reports that the President’s aide was not in any isolation centre.
Responding to a question during a recent Presidential task force briefing in Abuja, the health minister said Kyari’s location was not important, adding that the President’s chief of staff had a right to privacy.
Reacting to the news, the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Prince Uche Secondus, described the death as shocking.
He said he had prayed for the recovery of the late chief of staff, adding that he was shocked to hear about his death.
He said, “This is shocking. I’m sad to hear this bad news. Why now? I wish to console with the President, members of his cabinet, the family members of Kyari and all his associates.
“The death is a reminder to all of us that whatever we are today, it is by the grace of God. He is the one that owns us and can call us at home at anytime. Once more, I pray for the repose of the soul of the distinguished Nigerian.”
Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has said he would not receive orders from President Muhammadu Buhari regarding exempting oil companies from flying into his state.
Wike, lamenting about flights still entering Rivers, said the state government is ready to fight to protect its people rather than endanger lives by allowing oil companies and expatriates to enter the state.
He said he would only receive instructions when there is a dialogue with Buhari, adding that he is not one of the ‘Beggar governors’ who visit Abuja to beg for funds for their states.
According to him, Nigeria is not a military government but a federal state.
Speaking during a press briefing on Friday, Wike stressed that the state does not have N10bn to make isolation centres to treat Rivers people, hence they would fight against any plan to infect the state.
“Is this lockdown only for the poor? It’s unfortunate for someone to go against the lockdown rules of the government at this time.
“Akara sellers in Lagos trying to make daily income are chased out of the street and carried to court, but they said we should leave oil companies and allow them to operate and fly.
“As long as they do not enter my territory, I have no problem because we will fight, if we don’t fight, we cannot survive.
“I don’t take orders from Abuja but Rivers people. If they want to work with me they should come, I will not go and beg them. If they want war, we will fight, but I will make sure my people are protected from coronavirus.
“My people wouldn’t die. I’m not against the federal government, what are we fighting for, but I will do what is right if you want me to work with you, talk with me and don’t give me a directive.
“Nobody can use Rivers state as a toy, If you don’t like me, that will encourage me to like myself. Even my father has never given directive but calls me and has a dialogue for a way out, but you that is not my father will issue directive so you can kill Rivers people.
“I won you in 2015, I won you in 2019, have I not won, not one project in Rivers but you stay in Abuja and give me directives I will not agree. We are in a federal system, but governors have been reduced as beggars.
“We are not in a military government where you will sit down in your office and direct me. I’m not one of those governors that will come to Abuja to ask for help, so don’t issue me a directive when you were elected like me.
“As a governor, the right thing must be done so people must not die.
“Is there any oil company operating in America, it’s only here in Nigeria. I’m a boy to Rivers people, not anybody outside this state.
“The other time it was Caverton, now it’s ExxonMobil. The lockdown is not for the poor alone; it includes everybody.
“They are lucky Caverton apologized, the MD sent me an apology text that evening from America for us to release their pilots and comply with the rules.”
Days after the Corporate Affairs Commission headquarters in Maitama, Abuja, went up in flames, the Media Centre of the Independent National Electoral Commission also in Abuja has been gutted by fire.
It was gathered that the incident affected the office of INEC’s Director of Voter Registry, Emmanuel Akem.
INEC said, “The fire started at about 10:30am and was quickly put out by a combined team of firefighters from the Federal Fire Service and the FCT Fire Service; assisted by officials of the National Emergency Management Agency.
“Apart from office equipment and the personal effects of the Voter Registry Director which were lost to the fire incident, the operational capacity of the commission has not in any way been affected.”
The cause of the fire is being investigated and expected to be made public in due course.
