Medical director seeks test centre in state urgently After 30 days of total lockdown to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa has relaxed the exercise, allowing economic activities to resume tomorrow in Delta State.
During a broadcast yesterday in Asaba, the governor said residents were to engage in trading and other commercial endeavours between 6am and 7pm daily.
As a first step, he disclosed that the state will, today, commence the distribution of one million facemasks to residents through the local council offices.
He commended Deltans for their understanding, noting: “Our state has been relatively peaceful during the lockdown, which was a proactive step to keep the coronavirus pandemic at bay.
“It speaks of your trust and confidence in the integrity of the structures and processes we put in place to combat the disease. The security agencies also deserve our commendation for their sacrifice, patience and professional conduct.”
“It has become necessary to partially lift the ban on movements within the state effective Thursday, April 30, 2020,” he added.
The governor went on: “Conferences, sporting activities, gathering of people in conventions/event centres, sports fields, public/open spaces as well as recreational and cultural/communal activities remain banned until May 31, 2020.
“While burials and weddings will be allowed, the social distancing rule (six feet apart) must be applied, and the number of guests/persons must not exceed 50. Our schools (public and private) remain closed until Sunday, May 31, 2020.
“Entertainment centres, including cinemas, bars and night clubs remain closed until Sunday, May 31, 2020.
“Our airports remain closed to passenger traffic till further notice.”
He further said: I shall be meeting with our religious leaders on Thursday, April 30, 2020, to chart the way forward for our places of worship. However, all crusades/conventions remain banned until further notice.
“For the public service, only workers on Grade Level 12 and above should resume work effective Thursday, April 30. This order does not apply to junior staff on essential/emergency duties.”
Meanwhile, the Zonal Medical Director overseeing the COVID-19 treatment centres in Warri and Ekpan general hospitals, Dr. Paul Okubor, has called for the immediate establishment of the virus test centre in the state.
Speaking yesterday in Warri while conducting members of the Delta chapter of the Association of Professional Bodies of Nigeria (APBN) round the isolation facilities, Okubor stated that the appeal became necessary in view of the long distance that is being covered in taking samples to the Specialist Hospital in Irrua, Edo State.
Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has announced new 195 Covid-19 cases in the country
The highest figure recorded so far in a single as Covid-19 toll hit 1532 benchmark .
80 cases were recorded in Lagos with Kano coming second on the log with whopping 38 cases
Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on Tuesday night, April 28, announced 195 Covid-19 cases, the highest daily figure recorded so far by the agency.
In a series of tweets on its verified Twitter handle as at 11:50 pm, NCDC made the announcement as Nigeria's coronavirus cases tragically soared to 1532 figure benchmark.
According to the disease control agency, 80 of the cases were recorded in Lagos, with Kano coming second on the log with whopping 38 cases - the highest reported so far since the outbreak of the virus in the state.
Ogun and Bauchi states have 15 cases each followed by Borno which has 11 cases. It was a huge hit as Gombe has 10 cases, while Sokoto came behind with 9.
NCDC also announced that both Edo and Jigawa states recorded five cases, while Zamfara got two cases.
Rivers, Enugu, Delta, FCT and Nasarawa recorded the lowest with one case reported in the state each.
255 have been discharged after fully recovering from the virus while 44 casualties have been reported with Lagos still taking its place as the epicentre of the disease in Nigeria.
Globally, there are 3,138,785 Covid-19 cases shared across territories and countries since the virus was first discovered in China's Wuhan city last year.
Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel gives a press conference during a European Union Summit at the Europa building in Brussels on December 13, 2019. ARIS OIKONOMOU / AFP
Germany has granted Nigeria a debt relief worth €22.4 million (N8.9bn) as part of its contribution to the country’s COVID-19 fight.
In a statement on Tuesday, Germany, which has Europe’s largest economy, said the debt relief comes in addition to its support of the pandemic response globally.
“In 2020, the German treasury relieves Nigeria of debt repayments amounting to €22.4 million (N8.9bn),” the statement said.
“This comes in addition to Germany’s support to the COVID-19 response on a global level and the support provided by the European Union to partner countries in Africa worth €3.25 billion (N1.3 trillion)
“On April 27, Germany pledged €300 million (N120bn) to the global humanitarian response plan launched by the United Nations to fight COVID-19.”
Germany also noted it has pledged a total of €12 million (N4.8bn) in additional support to the West Africa Health Organisation, the regional health institution of the ECOWAS.
Germany’s pledge, the country said, is earmarked for the purchase of vital medical supplies, personnel training and facilitating cooperation across national and regional boundaries.
“Clearly, the current crisis goes beyond national and even continental borders and can only be fought effectively in a cooperative way. We need more international cooperation, not less,” German Foreign Minister, Heiko Maas, said.
…Says FG not giving Kano enough attention …DSS D-G’s mother dies in Kano …3 patients on the run …Kwankwaso writes Buhari, wants probe into cause of deaths …Aisha Buhari donates 16 trailers of food items, PPEs
By Bashir Bello & Abdulmumin Murtala
Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano State has said autopsies were still being carried out to unravel the cause of deaths in the state.
The state has lost over 640 persons within the last two weeks to what many suspected to be COVID-19 but the state government has said repeatedly that the deaths were not coronavirus related, attributing them to hypertension, acute malaria and diabetes.
Ganduje, who disclosed this in a tweet on his official Twitter handle, yesterday, said: “Over the past week, there have been reports of mysterious deaths in our great Kano State and I’m here to assure everyone that investigations are already ongoing. Autopsies are still being carried out but so far, there’s been nothing to suggest that they are linked with COVID-19.
“The state Ministry of Health has been sleepless in its battle against the pandemic and I will like to commend them for their efforts thus far. They have fought hard in the sporadic testing and quarantining of infected persons across the state.’’
Vanguard, however, gathered that officials of the state have been visiting families of those who have died to ask them what symptoms they exhibited before they died, with a view to ascertaining possible cause of the deaths.
Ganduje also in an interview with BBC Hausa Service, yesterday, said the Federal Government was not giving the state enough attention in the fight against COVID-19.
In an interview with the BBC Hausa Service on Monday, the governor said the state was not getting the needed support of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19.
He said there was shortage of sample collection equipment, stressing that the laboratory in the state was not functioning.
He said: “We are in a serious problem. I can tell you the situation is really bad and scary. Because what we solely rely upon in fighting the disease is the testing centre.
“There is also a shortage of sample collection equipment. It is not common equipment that you can go and buy in the market. Those whose samples were collected are still waiting to know their fate.
“The problem is with the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19. Even its Director-General was in Kano. He spent a night here but we have not heard from him again. The Minister of Health is also aware that the laboratory is not functioning.
“There is a serious problem. We have been complaining that Kano needs more than one testing centre, right from the beginning of this.
“Sincerely speaking, we are not getting the deserved attention. If these equipment are under our control, we will do our best to make sure they work properly. But we are not getting the needed support and co-operation from the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19.’’
Meanwhile, the spate of death on the state continued on Sunday night as Hajia Karimatu Abubakar, mother of the Director-General of the Department of State Service, DSS, Alhaji Yusuf Magaji Bichi, died.
Hajia Abubakar, who died in Bichi town, has since been buried at Bichi according to Islamic rites.
Among her children are Director-General of DSS, Alhaji Yusuf Magaji Bichi, and Alhaji Muntari Magaji, a lecturer at Bayero University Kano.
There had been an uproar over strange deaths in Kano, though the state government said they were not COVID-19 related.
On Sunday, Muhammad Garba, Commissioner for Information, asked residents not to panic, saying government was on top of the situation.
Similarly, three persons who tested positive for coronavirus are currently on the run in the state.
The state Coordinator, Rapid Response on COVID-19, Dr. Tijjani Hussaini, who disclosed this on a radio programme in the state, yesterday, said the patients have switched off their phones, with their homes deserted.
He said the state government had informed security agencies about the development to launch a manhunt for them.
It was, however, gathered that the patients were said to have fled immediately they got wind of the outcome of their test, which turned out to be positive.
Also yesterday, former governor of the state, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, called on the Federal Government to order an independent expert team to probe the cause of the deaths in the state.
Kwankwaso, who made the call in a letter he personally signed and addressed to President Muhammadu Buhari, urged the government to immediately intervene in the situation to save lives of innocent persons being lost.
On the fight against COVID-19 pandemic in the state, Kwankwaso also called on Buhari to take over the responsibility of rapid response on coronavirus in the state, noting that the state practically had no COVID-19 response committee.
According to him, what the state has is a contraption of cronies that are both unqualified and incompetent.
Kwankwaso said: “Mr. President, I feel obliged to write this letter to you for five reasons: one is the very scary rise in the number of people that are mysteriously dying in Kano every day since the commencement of the fight against COVID-19 and the eventual lockdown of the state.
‘’Two is the uncoordinated and unprofessional manner in which the fight against the disease in Kano State is being waged and the attendant and unprecedented mistrust of the government by the governed.
‘’Three is the near absence of cooperation and coordination between the state and the Federal Government on COVID-19 response; four is the frightening reality of the tendency of the present health emergency (which has already placed unbearable financial burden on both the citizens and the nation) to metamorphose into a security emergency.
‘’Five is to offer some suggestions in the overall interest of the good people of Kano State and the success of the national effort against the COVID-19 pandemic. Permit me to draw your attention to the spike in mystery deaths among the aged population in Kano State in the last couple of weeks.
‘’Hundreds of funerals have been recorded in all the cemeteries of the eight metropolitan local governments alone.
‘’Looking at the pattern elsewhere in the world where senior citizens with preexisting conditions were the main fatalities of the novel coronavirus, we are concerned that the inability to conduct tests in the state to determine the status of these senior citizens might be responsible for their death.
‘’We are even more concerned that if sincere and efficient machinery is not urgently put in place to understand and mitigate against this, more lives of innocent senior citizens will be lost.
“At present, and to all intent and purposes, the state has practically no COVID-19 response committee. What was hitherto, working as a COVID-19 committee was a contraption of cronies that are both unqualified and incompetent.
“As such, they kowtow to the whims of politicians without any regard to professional healthcare considerations. The committee technically disbanded itself when majority of the members were tested positive for COVID-19.
‘’I should inform Mr. President that since the announcement of the positive results of the members of the committee, no test was ever conducted in the entire state again. This is very frightening as neither asymptomatic nor active cases are being identified and isolated, as such carriers of this dreaded virus are all about and spreading it and causing untimely death of especially our senior citizens.
“The stoppage of the tests, coupled with series of revelations from within the isolation centre in Kano, together with the state persistence in asking for financial assistance from the central government, has deepened the already existing mistrust of the government by the governed.
Every sincere leader should be concerned
‘’Every sincere leader should be concerned about this. Everything that ought to have been in place: from advocacy and awareness campaign to sensitize the public, to the provision of support (material, medical and emotional) to the citizens is conspicuously absent in Kano.
“Mr. President, in a state like Kano, where large majority of its inhabitants earn their living from the informal sector and where big chunk of its citizens live below poverty line, there is no gainsaying that sustaining the lockdown in Kano demands that people are not left hungry.
“Any support in this regard should not be made on partisan basis. At the moment, the state government palliatives are being distributed based on political patronage (four persons in each polling unit of 500 persons). This is grossly inadequate. A hungry and angry population cannot be kept in lockdown for too long.”
Meanwhile, Aisha Buhari, the wife of the President, yesterday, donated Personal Protective Equipment, PPEs, medical consumables and assorted food items to the government and people of Kano State.
Presenting the items to Kano State government, Special Adviser on Administration to the wife of the President, Hadi Uba, said the items that would be distributed by the Aisha Buhari Foundation were targeted at 500,000 households in the state.
“The items we are presenting today to the government and people of Kano State are from the Aisha Buhari Foundation.
He said: “We have divided these palliatives into three. We have food items, which consist of rice, spaghetti, oil and others. We also have the Personal Protective Equipment, PPEs, that include gloves, goggles, facemasks, sanitisers and other things. On the other hand we have the drugs.
“We have decided to pass the PPEs to the state government to distribute to the needy. The food items will be distributed by the Aisha Buhari Foundation.”
According to him, the gesture of the wife of the president is meant to cushion the effects of the lockdown in the fight against the spread of COVID-19.
Uba further explained that sixteen trailer loads of assorted food items including, rice, spaghetti, flour, cooking oil and milk are going to be distributed in collaboration with the state government to the needy in the state.
He added that the PPEs include 300,000 hand gloves, 300,000 face masks as well as protective gowns. Also included are 10 automatic dispensers among other medical items.
Receiving the items on behalf of the state government, the Commissioner for Information, Muhammad Garba, expressed delight over the magnanimity of the wife of the president and promised that the items are going to be distributed accordingly
The 27-year-old Kenyan woman recently shared a video of herself celebrating 20 years of living with HIV as well as her childhood photos to tell her story to the world.
According to her, after diagnosing her of the disease, doctors said she wouldn’t grow past her 12th birthday, saying she had only four more years to live when she was as young as eight.
However, as fate would have it, she has surpassed the deadline several folds and now marks 20 years of living with the dreadful virus.
“2020 marks exactly 20 years since I was diagnosed with HIV. I was 8 years old when my parents were told I was HIV positive. Pensive face doctors gave me up to my 12th birthday. This August I'm looking forward to my 28th birthday. God is not done with me yet," she wrote
Her story triggered a lot of reactions on social media with many users applauding her for the courage and the sense of positivity that made her overcome stigmatization and always living a life full of smile and joy.
…Says 2 months after index case, Nigeria not yet out of the woods …Worried over increased community transmission …Warns states against competing with figures …You can’t hide COVID-19, NCDC tells Kogi, Nasarawa, C/River, Yobe govs …Reopens Kano lab, to set up emergency ambulance response …We didn’t supply expired rice to S-West— Minister
By Omeiza Ajayi
As the country continues to ramp up its capacity to detect cases of coronavirus, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, has put Nigeria’s total testing capacity at about 50,000.
This is even as the Federal Government said, yesterday, that Nigeria was not yet out of the woods, two months after it recorded its index case of the virus, expressing concerns at the growing wave of community transmission of the virus.
Nigeria’s index case, an Italian, was reported on February 27, 2020 in Lagos.
The Presidential Task Force, PTF, on COVID-19, also warned state governments against competing with figures, saying there was no shame in having a higher number of positive cases.
It warned the four states of Kogi, Nasarawa, Cross River and Yobe where no COVID-19 case has been reported, not to hide from relevant officials who meet the case definition to be screened and their samples extracted for testing.
Government also announced that it has reopened its molecular laboratory in Kano State, which was earlier shut for decontamination after some staff got infected with the virus.
Total testing capacity now 50,000
On Nigeria’s testing capacity, Director-General of NCDC, Dr Chikwe Iheakwazu, who spoke at the daily briefing of the PTF in Abuja, yesterday, said: “On the Roche equipment, what we have at the moment in the country as we speak, is a capacity to test about 50,000.
‘’This is with the conventional RT-PCR and the new Roche equipment that we have launched today (yesterday). So, with every new laboratory that we have, we just set up a laboratory in Sokoto, it means we have to provide them with the logistics and everything they need to collect samples and we are looking to do this in 36 plus one states.
‘’The good thing about the new Roche equipment we are starting to work with today is that it eliminates the need for certain things like the extraction kits. So, we can actually do a lot more work in a short time.
‘’If we had all the samples in the laboratories, if all the collections happen from the states, we can do up to 900 or a thousand tests in a day. Really, there is a lot of capacity to test now, the challenge is to bring in the samples quickly and get the equipment working..
Reopens labs in Kano
“Within the first 12 hours of the first confirmed case, we had already deployed a national response team to Kano to support the state government’s efforts. We now have a total of 15 people in Kano and we will continue scaling the number of people supporting Kano State until we get to the appropriate number.
“Just 10 days ago, I announced the activation of the molecular laboratory at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital but unfortunately, we had an incident where the laboratory was contaminated and biosafety measures had to be strengthened.
‘’So, in the interest of all the healthcare workers in Kano, especially in the teaching hospital, we had to pause and shut down that laboratory for a few days and that was exactly what we did. We have been working together with our colleagues to reactivate this laboratory but we have to do it safely.
‘’In the last 72 hours, we sent another team from the National Reference Laboratory of the NCDC and they have worked day and night over the weekend to reactivate that laboratory and I am happy to announce that the laboratory will start working this (Monday) afternoon (yesterday) and start testing samples again as they should be. This has not been easy, by any stretch of imagination.’’
States shouldn’t hide cases
Ihekwuazu also asked states to collect more samples from people who meet the case definition for testing, saying there was no need playing with figures.
“There are only four states at the moment that have not reported a case in Nigeria: Cross River, Kogi, Nasarawa and Yobe. We are looking at the number of samples collected from these states.
‘’We are not satisfied with the number of samples collected. We need to test more, but to test more, we need to collect more and that collection part is the responsibility of states and their public health teams.
‘’We want to really encourage every state in Nigeria, you cannot hide this. Eventually, it will emerge. It is better we understand what is happening early than leave it till we start hearing stories of death.”
Chairman of the Presidential Taskforce PTF on COVID-19 and Secretary to the Government of the Federation SGF, Mr Boss Mustapha, said: “The PTF shall continue to pursue the strategy of aggressive testing, detection, isolation, contact tracing, care and management. Similarly, non-pharmaceutical measures will be enhanced.
“Over the last four weeks, we made appreciable progress but we are not yet out of the woods because a lot more is required to be done. Nigerians at all levels must take responsibility for our actions, adopt behavioural modification, ensure compliance with advisories and provide guidance to our followers and youths.”
Growing community transmission
Minister of State for Health, Sen. Olorunnimbe Mamora, expressed concern at the increasing wave of community transmission, which he attributed to the non-compliance with containment protocols as well as treatment of patients in unaccredited facilities.
He said: “The rising number of cases is of concern to all, but there is evidence of increasing in-country community transmission which to a large extent is a result of non-compliance with lockdown orders and other non-medical interventions.”
States competing with figures
National Coordinator of the PTF, Dr Sani Aliyu, urging states not to compete with figures, said: “With regard to other issues particularly as it relates to states chief executives, I am, on behalf of the PTF, appealing to state governments to please continue to support the existing structures, particularly the state Emergency Operation Centres EOCs and their chief executives as well as their staff.
‘’These people are on the front line of the pandemic. They need to be supported 100 percent. Specifically, we will like to re-emphasize that there is no limit to testing when it comes to COVID-19.
Poisonous rice
Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajia Sadiya Farouk, dismissed reports alleging that her ministry supplied poisonous rice to states in the South-West.
She said: “This rice was handed over to us by the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, and was assessed by NAFDAC which issued a clearance before the goods were released for onward distribution to the states. So, as far as we are concerned, this rice was certified and is fit for human consumption.
“We had an issue in Oyo State, which was officially reported this morning (yesterday) but two or three days ago, we saw news flying around that all the rice we took to the South western part of this country is bad, that Lagos has taken its own to the lagoon and other states have rejected theirs.
‘’I want to state here categorically that, that is fake news. It is not true. Even as of this afternoon (yesterday), I spoke with the Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum, NGF, and he assured me that the ones he received in Ekiti and other states are in good condition.”
