The Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), Anambra branch, on Thursday urged the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) to issue special vehicle number plates to doctors, for easy identification on the road.

The Chairman of the association, Jide Onyekwelu, made the plea when he led his executive members on a courtesy visit to the Sector Commander of FRSC in the state, Andrew Kumapayi, in Awka. Mr Onyekwelu also called for friendship and collaboration with the corps, saying that both parties undertook emergency life-saving operations.

The Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, has expressed worry over the resumption of schools questioning their level of preparedness to reopen for studies amid the surge in COVID-19 cases across the Federation.

Reacting to the decision of the Federal government to reopen schools for the Junior Secondary School 3 and Senior Secondary School 3,  the NMA maintained that it is better for Nigerian students to stay alive  than to study in an environment that could expose them to the danger of COVID-19 In a chat with the vanguard, the NMA President, Prof Innocent Ujah also urged Nigerians to be wary of the development.

The spread of the novel coronavirus does not appear to be impacted by seasonality, the World Health Organization said Tuesday, warning against false beliefs that summer is safer. “Season does not seem to be affecting the transmission of this virus,” WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris told reporters in a virtual briefing.

She pointed out that some of the hardest-hit countries are currently in the midst of different season. While it is summer in the United States, which with nearly 148,000 deaths and close to 4.3 million cases is the hardest-hit country, the second most affected country Brazil, which counts more than 87,000 deaths, is in winter.

The Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Tedros Ghebreyesus, says a number of vaccines are now in phase three clinical trials to prevent COVID-19 pandemic. Mr Ghebreyesus made this known at a virtual news conference on Monday at the WHO Headquarters in Geneva. 

The director-general said: “We all hope to have a number of effective vaccines that can help prevent people from infection. “However, there’s no silver bullet at the moment and there might never be; for now, stopping outbreaks comes down to the basics of public health and disease control.

The Registrar of the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN), Elijah Mohammed, says the council has sealed 808 illegal pharmaceutical premises during the month of July. 

Mr Mohammed made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Abuja, while giving an update of the council’s activities in July. He said out of the 1,179 pharmaceutical premises inspected by the council’s enforcement team, 740 illegal medicines shops and 68 illegal pharmacies were sealed.

The Medical doctors under the auspices of the National Association of Government General Medical and Dental Practitioners (NAGGMDP), in Ondo State on Monday suspended its one-month old strike.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that doctors, who are employed by the state government, withdrew their services on June 24, over unpaid allowances. In a statement, the State Chairman of NAGGMDP, Oluwafemi Aina, on Monday said the strike was suspended after the government acceded to some of their demands.

Nigeria on Monday recorded 288 coronavirus infections, the lowest number since June 8. The latest figure brings the total number of infections in the country to 44, 129, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). 

Monday’s figure is lower than those of the past four days, showing a consistent decline in the country’s epidemiological curve. Nigeria recorded 304, 386, 462, and 481 daily cases before Monday’s lower figure. But despite the continued decline in the daily figure of confirmed coronavirus infections in Nigeria, there has been a troubling uptick in mystery cases that health experts believe could upset plans of a full opening of public activities across the country.

The risk of COVID-19 infection from breastfeeding is negligible and has never been documented, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday. The health agency made this known via a statement published on its website to commemorate the 2020 World Breastfeeding Week which runs from August 1 to August 7.

The theme of World Breastfeeding Week 2020 is “Support breastfeeding for a healthier planet”. WHO said both infants and mothers are protected from any risk the COVID-19 virus poses if they practice exclusive breastfeeding.

Federal authorities in Nigeria are investigating some drug stores in the country over outrageous hiking of prices of hydroxychloroquine, a controversial anti-malaria drug used for COVID-19 treatment.

Premium Times reported how one drug store in Port Harcourt, Rivers state, Ebus Pharmacy Limited, was selling hydroxychloroquine at an exorbitant price of N50,000. The owner of Ebus Pharmacy, Boniface Ebugosi, said the hydroxychloroquine was an imported drug and that the dwindling value of the naira against the dollar was responsible for its high price.

The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, says efforts are ongoing to develop innovative interventions to reduce COVID-19 case fatalities to below one per cent. Ehanire said this at the Presidential Tasks Force (PTF) on COVID-19 daily briefing on Monday in Abuja.

According to him, fatalities at present is at two per cent, especially for the elderly and those with co-morbidities. Ehanire said that PTF members were aligned in non-pharmaceutical key role interventions in controlling new infections, as the measures of wearing of masks and avoiding crowds were easy, cheap and proven to be effective.