667 new cases of Covid-19 were confirmed in Nigeria on Friday by Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC). This brings the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 19,147. The number of deaths also increased by 12 new deaths to a total of 487. Number of those who have recovered from the virus stands at 6,581 as at 19 June.
Details of the new cases are; Lagos-281, Abia-48, Oyo-45, FCT-38, Ogun-37, Enugu-31, Ondo-23, Plateau-21, Edo-19, Delta-18, Rivers-18, Bayelsa-17, Akwa Ibom-17, Kaduna-14, Kano-12, Bauchi-9, Gombe-4, Osun-3, Benue-3, Nasarawa-3, Kwara-3, Ekiti-2, and Borno-1
Total of 108,548 samples have been tested for Covid-19 in Nigeria, since the beginning of the outbreak according to NCDC.
In Plateau State, the Research Committee on COVID-19 and other infectious diseases has formulated three medicines against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, according to the Chairman of the committee, Prof. Noel Wannang, a Professor of Pharmacology.
He disclosed this while giving an update on the body’s activities on Friday at Government House, Jos. According to him the drugs are named Cov-Pla 1, Cov-Pla 2 and Cov-Pla 3.
He said the 3 drugs were formulated with a combination of five plants, that were part of the 13 plants the committee have found to have antiviral activities against SARS-COV-2 ( the virus that causes Covid-19 disease).
Wannang said the trial of the drugs for the treatment of Covid-19 patients will start soon. He said the result may provide an important breakthrough in the field of herbal medicine.
He said the committee developed a protocol for the management of COVID-19 patients using conventional medicines, saying submission would be made to appropriate authorities as part of guidelines for drug production according to the report by punch
“These repurposed drugs cover for asymptomatic carriers, mild/moderate disease patients, elderly patients/patients with cardiovascular morbidities, patients presenting with severe disease and patients in shock/critically severe disease,” he said.
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In Ogun state, the State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, on Friday, suspended the planned 19 June reopening of the religious centres in the state, due to the increase in the number of confirmed covid-19 cases in the state. 37 new cases were confirmed in the state on Friday.
Abiodun said “…as a responsible administration, we choose life and the well-being of our citizens and are therefore constrained to take the painful but necessary decision to maintain the current regime of eased lockdown in the meantime.
“We are consequently suspending our initially slated reopening of places of worship.”
Nigeria Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, on Friday, said that N4.5 billion has been released by the Federal Government to 31 federal teaching hospitals and medical centres nationwide.
According to him the money is for the hazard and inducement allowances of striking doctors for April and May.
Ngige said “Just this morning, before we went to see Mr President, the Ministry of Finance reported that as at this morning, 3 am, they have paid the allowances for hazard and inducement to 31 teaching and Federal Medical Centres and specialist hospitals of the Federal Government service and they have expended close to N4.5 billion on the payment because we are paying them the arrears of April and May.
“The payment for June will also be done immediately these ones are sorted out”
It is really saddening that the Federal government Nigeria has to wait until Doctors embark on strike in the middle of pandemic before their allowances will be paid.
This makes one to wonder what the priorities of the government are, when people are dying on daily basis from this virus as well other treatable and preventable diseases in the country.
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300 Stranded Nigerians were evacuated from the United Arab Emirates. The Evacuees landed in Abuja, Nigeria on Friday 19th June 2020 aboard Emirates flight.
This was announced on Twitter by the Chairman, Nigerians in the Diaspora Commission, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, She said that all evacuees are to go on Compulsory 14 days self isolation according to the new Protocol by the Presidential Task Force on .
In a similar development, 56 Nigerians were evacuated from Pakistan. The Evacuees landed in Abuja on Friday via a chartered aircraft which is operated by Tarco Aviation Co.Ltd.
This evacuation was announced in tweet by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama.
“June 21st is not a feasible date to resume domestic operations” said the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika on Thursday during a Presidential Task Force Briefing on COVID-19 in Abuja via his representative, Director-General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, Capt Musa Nuhu,
“The civil aviation authority, despite pressures coming from all quarters, will not approve the start any day until we are sure and we confirm that we are ready to start in a safe, secure, organised and efficient manner. To do otherwise is disastrous for all of us.
“If we open the industry when we are not ready, and we are guilty of spreading coronavirus, God forbid we have any incident, I believe the government will come hard on us and it is going to be counterproductive and disastrous for the industry.
He said, “we are not too far, we are close but there is a need for timing to ensure that we are ready, positively, absolutely ready to start work.”
Total of 276,733 cases have been confirmed in Africa. Out of which 127,644 persons have recovered with 7,417 deaths recorded according to Africa CDC and Prevention.
In Brazil, The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in have passed 1 million and the country’s recorded death toll is approaching 50,000 deaths on Friday. Brazil confirmed its first case of the virus on Feb. 26.
Brazil is the world’s second-worst hit country after the United States. With 1,206 new deaths reported on Friday
The Brazilian government on Friday published new guidelines for meat packers after a spike of Covid-19 cases at food plants. the new guidelines include keeping workers at least one metre apart, but labour prosecutors criticized the steps as inadequate.
The CDC in the US has recommended that meatpacking workers be spaced at least six feet (two metres) apart.
The real extent of the outbreak in Brazil far exceeds official figures released according to many experts, citing lack of widespread testing in the country.
Brazil has recorded 1,032,913 confirmed cases of Covid-19 with 551,631 recoveries and 48,954 deaths.
In Saudi Arabia, the number of coronavirus cases in in the Kingdom exceeded 150,000 on Friday following a rise in infections. Saudi has the highest number of confirmed cases in the middle east.
The Kingdom has recorded 150,292 cases of the virus with 95,764 recoveries and 1,184 deaths.
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In UK, a meat processer in northern England owned by British supermarket Asda has closed due to Covid-19 outbreak in the plant.
Asda said it had been working with public health authorities to ensure staff were tested. It did not confirm how many cases had been found.
The closure is the latest in a series of outbreaks linked to meat processing plants across Europe and the Americas. On Thursday, one of Britain’s biggest food companies suspended production after more than 50 positive tests.
UK has recorded 303,283 cases of the virus with 42,546 deaths.
In the U.S, new Covid-19 cases are rising in 23 US states, and 10 recorded their highest single-day increases on Friday..
California reported 4,317 new coronavirus cases Friday, the most cases recorded in a single day in the state since the start of the pandemic, according to data from the California Department of Public Health.
According to state data, California has confirmed total of 165,416 cases after conducting a total of 3,155,702 tests. If you compare the tests done in California to 108,548 tests that have been done in Nigeria, you will see that Nigeria is not even close to doing enough test.
There were also 70 new deaths reported in California on Friday, bringing the total fatalities in the state to 5,360
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Florida reported 3,207 additional coronavirus cases on Thursday — the largest single-day count in the state since the pandemic, according to the state health department. Florida’s total reported cases climbed to nearly 86,000, according to data.
More than three quarters of Florida’s adult intensive care unit beds are occupied, according to data from the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration. General hospital beds were at nearly 75% capacity across the state.
The chief of the Houston Police Department, Art Acevedo, said that the police department has recorded a huge spike in Covid-19 cases due to protests.
“Our own department, because of what went on with all these protests, we have seen a huge spike,” Acevedo said. “We’ve had about 50 or 60 positive tests come back here in a very short period of time.”
Acevedo said that in less than two weeks, the cases in the department have doubled due to “close proximity”
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The U.S is the worst affected country in the world. It has recorded 2,219,119 cases with 606,715 recoveries and 119,086 deaths.
Globally there are 8,629,305 confirmed cases with 4,233,451 recoveries and 458,706 deaths recorded according John Hopkins Tally.
Written by;
Ifunanya Ikueze
