The Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria has urged the federal and state governments to protect pharmacists and secure pharmaceutical facilities in the country.

According to a statement signed by the ACPN National Chairman, Mr Sam Adekola, and National Secretary, Bose Idowu, the killing of community pharmacists on essential duty has become a recurring phenomenon in the last few years.

The independent Africa Regional Certification Commission (ARCC), responsible for certifying the eradication of wild poliovirus in the World Health Organisation (WHO) African Region, has accepted the submission by 47 African countries for polio free status. WHO Regional Office for Africa in Brazzaville, Congo, made this known on its official twitter account @WHOAFRO.

 “Thanks to the dedicated efforts of vaccinators, health workers and partners, all 47 WHO African Region countries have had their wild polio free status accepted by the ARCC. “The Region is on the point of a historic public health success: certification as wild polio free!

The National Council on Health (NCH), on Tuesday, approved the Health Sector COVID-19 Pandemic Response Action Plan, to curtail the spread of the pandemic. The Action Plan was designed by the Ministry of Health and the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 as an effective response to fight the pandemic.

The council also approved the proposed establishment of Community Support Centres (CSCs), first in the high burden states comprising Lagos, Kano, and the FCT. The decisions were taken after a virtual Emergency Meeting of the National Council on Health (NCH) convened on Tuesday. The meeting was chaired by the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire.

Nigeria has recorded 649 new cases of COVID-19 pandemic, bringing the total number of infections in the country, as at June 24, to 22,020. The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) made this known on Wednesday through its official Twitter handle.

NCDC said that the 649 new confirmed cases were from 23 states, with nine deaths as at June 24. The health agency said that no new state reported a case in the last 24 hours. The NCDC said that Lagos still remained the epicentre of COVID-19, recording the highest number of 250 new cases, followed by Oyo state with 100 new infections.

The Association of Hospital and Administrative Pharmacists of Nigeria has expressed dissatisfaction at its exclusion from a recent meeting between the Federal Government and unions in the health care sector. The National Chairman of the group, Dr Kingsley Amibor, in a statement on Wednesday, said AHAPN was being sidelined from discussions bordering on the welfare of medical doctors in the country. 

Some of the issues AHAPN wants the government to resolve are, adjustments to the Consolidated Health Salary Structure, payment of arrears of call duty relativity, payment of COVID-19 hazard allowance and non-availability of personal protective equipment for pharmacists and other health care workers.

The second-largest Ebola outbreak on record is over after nearly two years and more than 2,200 deaths, the Democratic Republic of Congo said on Thursday, even as a separate flare-up of the virus continued elsewhere in the country.

In spite of effective vaccines and treatments that dramatically boosted survival rates when administered early, the outbreak dragged on as first responders struggled to gain access to virus hotspots in Congo’s restive eastern borderlands. As that outbreak neared its end, another one was declared on June 1 in the western city of Mbandaka, more than 1,000 km (620 miles) away.

The trial of a new vaccine to stop the spread of Coronavirus has begun in the United Kingdom with volunteers being immunised. So far, tests in animals suggest the vaccine was safe and triggers an effective immune response.

The trials are among many across the world and there are around 120 vaccine programmes underway. About 300 people will have the vaccine over the coming weeks as part of a trial led by Prof Robin Shattock and his colleagues, at Imperial College London, the BBC reports.

The Ondo State Government has sacked resident doctors, who recently protested the non-payment of their salaries and are attached to the University of Medical Sciences Teaching Hospital.

The sack of the doctors was contained in an internal memo obtained by SaharaReporters on Wednesday. The doctors had embarked on a protest to press home the demand for payment of their accumulated salaries and medical allowances. According to the memo, the doctors were given a notice till August 1, 2020 to leave the workforce. Governor Rotimi Akeredolu

The Private Sector led Coalition Against COVID-19 (CACOVID) has donated a 150-bed isolation centre and medical equipment worth millions of naira to the Lagos State Government. Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, speaking at the inauguration of the centre in Yaba, on Sunday, said it would assist the state government to enhance its COVID-19 pandemic response.

Sanwo-Olu commended CACOVID for the donation, pledging that it would be judiciously used to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in the state, and indeed Nigeria. 

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has provided the timeline of COVID-19 response activities for general information from December 2019 when China reported the virus till date.

WHO, in a statement issued from its headquarters in Geneva on Monday, stated that the agency would update the timeline on a regular basis and in light of evolving events and new information.