Category: Update on coronavirus

The House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee has directed the Ministry of Health to return to the federal government the N10 billion meant for the production of COVID-19 vaccines which was not utilised. This followed a motion moved by Bassey Akiba (LP, Cross Rivers) after the non-appearance of officials of the ministry at its investigative hearing yesterday.““Akiba moved the motion to compel the ministry to refund the monies appropriated to it during the intervention on COVID-19 pandemic in the country. The committee adopted the motion after it was seconded and…

Read More

Due to the surge in coronavirus cases, more countries are imposing restrictions on arrivals from China, where the coronavirus cases have increased. United Kingdom, France, Spain and Italy are requiring travellers arriving from China to provide a negative COVID-19 test result before boarding flights. The scale of the outbreak in China and doubts over official data have prompted the United States, India, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan to impose their own new travel rules on Chinese visitors. Other countries that have joined in imposing such restrictions include Malaysia, Australia, and…

Read More

Scientists in France have identified a potentially worrying new variant of COVID-19 which has 46 mutations. Named IHU, the new B.1.640.2 variant has so far infected 12 people living in southeastern France. The first case was linked to a person with a travel history to Cameroon, western Africa, said researchers in a published paper. However, experts were quick to announce that just because a new variant had been discovered, that did not necessarily mean IHU will prove as infectious as other strains, including Omicron. In the analysis, the authors found…

Read More

António Guterres, United Nations (UN) Secretary-General, has called on countries of the world to prepare for the next pandemic as COVID-19 will not be the last. Guterres said this in his message late on Monday to mark the International Day of Epidemic Preparedness, which was held on December 27 to advocate the importance of prevention of, preparedness for and partnership against epidemics. The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the importance of investing in systems to prevent, detect and respond to infectious disease outbreaks.   The first-ever International Day of Epidemic Preparedness was…

Read More

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) stated on Tuesday that 859 persons caught the COVID-19 virus in Nigeria on Monday, raising the country’s infection tally to 238,420 and the death toll to 3,024. It stated that the two deaths were recorded in the FCT taking the death toll at Nigeria’s capital city to 234. In Monday’s 859 infections, Lagos State took the lead with 555 victims up from the 401 infections it recorded on Sunday. The FCT recorded 57 cases while Plateau recorded 26 cases on Monday. Edo recorded…

Read More

Nigeria has recorded 2,123 new COVID-19 infections on Tuesday, its highest ever daily infection since the outbreak of the virus in February 2020. Wednesday’s figure released by NCDC was 755 higher than the 1,368 infections recorded on Tuesday. It was the first time Nigeria was experiencing a ballooning of its daily difference in new infections and a sharp increase in the number of fatalities as festive activities heighten across the country. According to the NCDC figures, Lagos State, which remains the country’s epicentre of the infection, led the new infections…

Read More

The Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19 has declared that indoor religious gatherings should be limited to 50 per cent with full compliance to public health measures. This was contained in a statement signed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha in Abuja. Crossover services are significant events held majorly in churches on the night of December 31 every year to usher in the New Year. It is a time when religious organisations, especially Christians, gather to pray and worship their Maker for the gift of a…

Read More

Afe Babalola University Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD) has been licensed by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to commence the production of ABUAD Herbal Virucidine Liquid with effect from December 16, 2021. ABUAD Herbal Virucidine Liquid is an immune booster and antioxidant for coronavirus and other viral infections, which can also be used as an anti-inflammatory agent. It is a product, which has been conscientiously produced and packaged in 100-ml bottles. According to a statement by the Director, Corporate Affairs of the university, Mr. Tunde Olofintila, yesterday,…

Read More

According to data obtained from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control website on Wednesday, no fewer than 107 inbound passengers to Nigeria have tested positive for COVID-19 in the last one week. The website also showed that 703 cases of the virus were recorded in the country on Tuesday. Checks revealed that between November 25 and December 4, the country recorded 749 cases of COVID-19. However, between December 5 and December 14, the cases recorded were 4,029 representing 437.92 per cent increase over the previous 10 days. As of Tuesday,…

Read More