Federal Government has appealed to governors to increase the number of isolation centres as the cases of COVID-19 swelled to 2,950 on Wednesday.

Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, made the appeal at the daily briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 in Abuja, reiterating that the country was largely dealing with community transmission of the coronavirus. 

The Central Bank of Nigeria says it is developing a framework under which grants and long term facilities will be provided to researchers, science institutions and biotechnology firms to develop COVID-19 vaccine. The Governor of CBN, Godwin Emefiele, disclosed this at the unveiling of the THISDAY Dome Testing, Tracing and Treatment Centre, Abuja on Tuesday. 

Emefiele said if Nigeria was to wait for foreign countries to develop their vaccines, it would be the last in the queue to receive curative remedies for the teeming population.

The Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, PSN has appealed to the Federal Government to extend the recent import waiver on medical supplies by President Mohammadu Buhari to all essential drugs and not only those related to COVID-19.

Stating this in Lagos, the President of the PSN, Pharm. Sam Ohuabunwa said the extension of the waiver to all essential drugs was necessary since there is no establish treatment protocol all over the world for the novel coronavirus.

The total number of coronavirus recoveries in Nigeria now exceeds 1000, The PUNCH reports. This was contained in a data released by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control on Wednesday night.

“Till date, 4971 cases have been confirmed, 1070 cases have been discharged and 164 deaths have been recorded in 34 states and the Federal Capital Territory,” the Centre stated on its website.

The umbrella body of pharmacists in the country, the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, has disagreed with the Federal Government and the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control over the search for cures for COVID-19.

The Secretary General of the  PSN, Emeka Duru, in an interview with The PUNCH on Wednesday, stated that the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development had several relevant drugs waiting to be developed.

Health workers in the FCT have threatened to proceed on industrial action as from June 1, over unpaid salaries, allowances, and other entitlements by the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA). 

The workers comprising medical specialists/consultants, doctors in the 14 district hospitals and those in department of public health and primary healthcare development board, said the only thing that would stop the action is if the FCTA attend to their needs as quickly as possible.

The coronavirus may never go away and populations will have to learn to live with it just as they have HIV, the World Health Organization has warned, as the global death toll from the disease nears 300,000.

There were also gloomy forecasts from the US Federal Reserve, which said prolonged shutdowns to stem the spread of the virus could cause lasting economic damage in America. Washington ratcheted up tensions over the pandemic by accusing China of trying to steal research into a vaccine, while US President Donald Trump upped the rhetoric with a colourful phrase that could anger Beijing.

The United Nations Children Education Funds (UNICEF); has said that 950 Nigerian children may die from preventable diseases in six months with the lingering of coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

According to the Children’s Fund, the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted routine healthcare delivery services for about six months. UNICEF’s Communication Officer, Samuel Kaalu in a statement Wednesday in Maiduguri, disclosed:

The president of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Dr Francis Faduyile, commended the commitment and selfless services of medical and health workers in the frontline of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr Faduyile made the commendation, when the delegation of all health professionals paid a solidarity visit to Kano State, with the aim of boosting the morale of health worker in the state. According to him, fighting the COVID-19 pandemic was a collective responsibility, hence all efforts needed to be put in place in ensuring that the stated goals

Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, has announced on Monday that the Federal Government is cooperating with the World Health Orgabisation, (WHO) on treatment regimen solidarity trial with the following states enrolled; Lagos, Ogun, Kaduna, Sokoto, Kano and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Ehanire stated this at a briefing by the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 in Abuja. The minister, however, did not state when the trial will begin and the modalities for it. The Nation reports that more than 1,200 patients have been randomised from the first five countries to evaluate the safety and efficiency of the drug combinations,