Frontpage News (3249)
The pharmaceutical giant Pfizer said Tuesday that a new coronavirus vaccine could be tested as early as next week — with the potential for emergency use by fall, a report said Tuesday. “This is a crisis right now, and a solution is desperately needed by all,” Pfizer chief executive Albert Bourla told the Wall Street Journal.
Pfizer is working with German-based BioNtech to deliver the possible vaccine. Clinical trials on human volunteers in Germany have already started. Health regulators in the US may approve testing the vaccine on humans by next week, Bourla told the paper.
Poor Financing, Resistance Threat To Malaria Elimination —WHO
Site Admin
World Health Organisation (WHO) has listed poor financing and resistance of malaria disease causing germs to malaria medicines as some of the threats and challenges to eliminating malaria from at least 20 countries come year 2025.
WHO’s Medical Officer, Global Malaria Programme, Dr Peter Olumese, speaking at a World Malaria Day 2020 Webinar event hosted by Civil Societies for Malaria Elimination (CS4ME), said four factors were stagnating the World Malaria Programme. According to him, these factors include resistance to malaria medicines and insecticides, financing, building technical competencies in endemic countries,
UCH attends to 10 COVID-19 patients- Chief Medical Director
Site Admin
The University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Oyo State, says it has attended to 10 COVID-19 patients. Its Chief Medical Director (CMD), Prof. Jesse Otegbayo, made this known in a series of tweets via his official Twitter handle, @UchCmd, on Wednesday.
Otegbayo, however, said the hospital had recorded two deaths of the 10 cases, while still managing two active cases. He said COVID-19 pandemic had wide reaching spread on the world with consequences on every major sphere of human life. “The University College Hospital, Ibadan, being the flagship tertiary healthcare institution in the West African sub-region,
Primary health workers train online to take on coronavirus
Site Admin
Some 200 key health care workers are going online to train in boosting primary health care preparedness and response to Covid-19 in efforts to ensure primary health delivery continues despite coronavirus fears.
The trainees, from across 36 states and the FCT, are only a first step in building primary health care response to Covid-19 and will be expected to train other health workers down the line. The focus on training healthworkers in primary health centres comes amidst concern the country is experiencing community transmission.
NCDC declares end of emergency phase of 2020 Lassa fever outbreak
Site Admin
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has declared an end to the emergency phase of the 2020 Lassa fever outbreak noting that the development represents a successive decline in cases below the emergency threshold.
Revealing that this was achieved through an epidemiological review carried out by NCDC and World Health Organisation (WHO), Director General of NCDC, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, said on January 24, 2020, the centre declared Lassa fever outbreak and activated a national Emergency Operations Centre (EOC).
DOCTORS have continued to be at the receiving end of the coronavirus pandemic. Thirty four doctors have tested positive to the virus in Kano within the last two weeks. One of them has died, the doctors’ association said on Tuesday.
No fewer than 30 doctors in Lagos and Katsina states were reported on Monday to have tested positive to the virus. Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Kano State chapter,
SIXTY more Coronavirus (COVID-19) patients have been discharged from Lagos State-run isolation centres, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu announced on Tuesday. They were discharged from the Infectious Disease Hospital (IDH), Yaba, Land Mark Isolation Centre (Eti-Osa) and Ibeju-Lekki Isolation facilities.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says the number of reported COVID-19 cases in Africa increased from 46,500 to 49,000 in the past 24 hours. The WHO Regional Office for Africa in Brazzaville, Congo, gave the update on its official twitter account @WHOAFRO on Wednesday.
“There are over 49,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases on the African continent, with more than 16,000 associated recoveries and 1,900 deaths. The figures on the dashboard showed that South Africa, Algeria and Nigeria had the highest reported cases on the list in the WHO Africa Region.
COVID-19: Sanwo-Olu Unveils 80-bed Isolation, Treatment Centre at Landmark Village
Site Admin
Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu has unveiled a 80-bed Centre for the isolation and treatment centre for Coronavirus patients (COVID-19) at the Landmark Village in Eti Osa Local Government Area, Lagos.This is coming three weeks after the announcement of ongoing discussions to use a part of the Landmark Village as an isolation site.
The facility, which is a standard isolation and treatment centre constructed and fitted to specification, was delivered through a tripartite public-private partnership (PPP), consisting Landmark Africa, the state government and the Young Presidents’ Association (YPO), representing various private individuals and corporate donors.
COVID-19: Lagos battles shortage of reagents, FCT runs out of test kits
Site Admin
The Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 at the House of Representatives on Tuesday said Kano State had become the epicentre of coronavirus in the North.
The PTF Chairman and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha; who led other members of the task force, including the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire; Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed and the Minister of Foreign Affairs,
More...
80 percent COVID-19 patients don’t require hospital admission
Site Admin
The Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 pandemic has advised against keeping asymptomatic patients of COVID-19 in the isolation centres. National Coordinator of the PTF, Dr Sani Aliyu, gave the advice during the daily press briefing by the task force in Abuja, advising rather that such persons, who were about 80% of those infected were better treated with more comfortable places like hotels.
Aliyu, who particularly directed his advice at state governments, also charged states to start preparing and equipping isolation centres, with not less than 300 beds.
COVID-19: Trump Confirms US Is Sending 250 Ventilators To Nigeria
Site Admin
US President Donald Trump has confirmed that his country will be sending 250 ventilators to Nigeria among other countries, to assist in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Trump said this during a press briefing at the Oval Office in the White House on Wednesday. In response to a question about being surrounded by persons not using face masks nor observing social distancing, President Trump said, “I am signing a bill and you criticise us.
Here’s the story: There is nothing I can do to satisfy the media, the democrats or the fake news, and I understand that. We did the greatest job mobilisation with the ventilators,
UPDATED: Nigeria records 195 new COVID-19 cases, total now 3,145
Site Admin
Nigeria on Wednesday recorded 195 new cases of coronavirus, bringing the total number of confirmed infections in the country to 3,145. The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control made this known via its website.
At least 90,000 health care workers worldwide are believed to have been infected with COVID-19, and possibly twice that, amid reports of continuing shortages of protective equipment, the International Council of Nurses (ICN) said yesterday.
The disease has killed more than 260 nurses, it said in a statement, urging authorities to keep more accurate records to help prevent the virus from spreading among staff and patients. The Geneva-based association said a month ago that 100 nurses had died in the pandemic sparked by a novel coronavirus that emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.
