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.”
Non indigenes in Asaba, Okwe and Ibusa communities in Delta state on Friday frowned at the manner of distribution of food items meant to cushion the effect of Covid-19 lockdown.
They said their greatest challenge and fear has been hunger not the deadly corona virus pandemic.
A respondent who spoke to our correspondent in Asaba; Mrs Alice Okowon described the manner of the distribution of the palliatives as an exhibition of wickedness and intimidation.
She said, “It is very bad, the government made the lockdown for everybody yet they are sharing the food items to their people alone. On Wednesday they brought the items, they said it is for the indigenes.
Though the rice is three cups and a tuber of yam, we should be part of it no matter how little. This is our home, like me I was born here, I pay my tax here, I cast my vote here, so why are we not included in the list. Why have we been sidelined in Asaba?
Again today (Friday), A team of the Asaba Development Union (ADU) came to share food items, they shared only to some Asaba indigenes. We went there for them to give us, they refused insisting that it is only for indigenes. The team leader even went to the extent of referring to a lady (Monica Isidi; who was pleading on our behalf as a hungry lady).
We are seriously faced with hunger worse than the corona-virus. We fear hunger not corona virus pandemic ravaging the world. We can no longer feed well again and our stores have been locked down.”
“The palliatives measures the state government, politicians and the Asaba Development Union claimed it has been sharing (though some persons through the use of Facebook have applauded them), has not in any way reached us. The distribution is marked with a high level of discrimination even to some Asaba indigenes. We are suffering, the lockdown in the state is killing us.”
“They should not come to us again during election time. They should go to only the indigenes to vote for them.”
Another respondent who is an Asaba indigene; Isidi Monica condemned, in strong terms the manner of sharing of the palliatives by the ADU (Asaba Development Union).
She said, “You need to be alive to contract the virus; you cannot contract the virus in death. Both the indigenes and non-indigenes are battling with hunger.”
Its terrible that no one is allowed to go out and work, how will they feed? Some of the non-indigenes want to return to their place yet they are not allowed to travel back home. They are hungry and want food to survive and it affects everybody.
Everybody deserves to survive this trying period in Nigeria irrespective of where you come from. As long as you are resident in Asaba, you should be considered for the palliative”.
I am from Asaba and I have been following the distribution of food items by the ADU, the manner of distribution of food is bad and marked with a high level of discrimination. I speak not just for myself but for everybody who have been ignored by the union.
Corona virus or hunger does not know indigene or non-indigene, so the distribution should reach any vulnerable resident in Asaba”.
They lamented the situation across the state as pathetic, especially the lockdown and dusk - to - dawn curfew imposed by the state government.
24th April 2020, 5:55pm
Monday, 20 April 2020
By : Monica M.f
ASABA—NINE days after a Celestial Church Pastor was killed at Ibusa, near Asaba, suspected herdsmen, weekend, kidnapped an Anglican Priest, Revd. Anthony Oyi, his wife, his children and one of his friends at Issele-Mkpitime, Aniocha North Local Government Area, Delta State.
The priest, who resides at Oko-Ogbele and a native of Issele-Mkpitime, had gone to farm with his family from where they were abducted by the herdsmen.
A source, who pleaded anonymity, however, disclosed that the wife and children have been released by the hoodlums with a mandate to go get money for the release of the cleric and his friend.
The source said the vigilante group at Issele-Uku and Issele-Mkpitime had been alerted, adding that the vigilante group and the Police were already combing the bush in search of the two men.
Confirming the incident, the State Police Public Relations Officer, Onome Onovwakpoyeya, said the Police had launched a search party to rescue the victims unhurt.
Seattle (U.S.) – President Donald Trump’s message to liberate states is basically encouraging people to break the law, Gov. Jay Inslee said on Sunday on ABC’s “This Week”.
A crowd of people gather at the corner of Main Street and Walnut Avenue in Huntington Beach, CA, to protest coronavirus (COVID-19) closures on Friday, April 17, 2020. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
“To have an American president to encourage people to violate the law, I can’t remember any time in my time in America we have seen such a thing.
“It is dangerous because it could inspire people to ignore things that could save their lives,” Inslee told ABC Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos.
Trump has repeatedly said in his daily briefings that he did not believe that protests against stay-at-home orders were putting people at risk of spreading or getting COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
The president repeated those statements in his briefing on Saturday.
The two officials have steadily upped the ante in their war of words.
Inslee on Friday stated that Trump’s “unhinged rantings and calls for people to ‘liberate’ states could also lead to violence. We’ve seen it before.”
On Sunday, on “This Week” Inslee said he hoped there could be “restoration of leadership in the White House.”
The exchange came before some Washingtonians planned to gather in Olympia and elsewhere to “defend liberty,” demonstrate the right to assemble and gather signatures for petitions that defend the second amendment and repeal the state’s new comprehensive sex education bill.
While Trump and some states are advocating a quick reopening of the country, Inslee is counselling caution.
He has encouraged people in Washington – the first COVID-19 epicentre in the country – to continue to observe his order to stay home, to stay healthy.
Washington Tribes enacted shelter in place orders even sooner than the governor, with four tribes, the Hoh, Quileute, Quinault, and Makah also closing their reservations to outsiders.
Inslee told Stephanopoulos that he understood the hardship of the stay-at-home order as time stretched on.
“Everybody is very anxious to have a date, you know. They’re wanting to get out and see their grandkids; they’re wanting to get back to work.
“People without a paycheck have extreme anxiety about this and so this is something very, very deep, to have that date to be able to shoot for, obviously, no one has a crystal ball.
“It’s not safe yet to lift precautions. We still haven’t gotten the curve going down, we’re still plateaued.
“We want to make sure we wrestle this beast to the ground.
“And the reason is, you have to get the infections down to a low enough number where you can handle it through very rigorous testing,” Inslee said.
It may be possible to begin opening some parts of the Washington State’s economy in the coming weeks – but it won’t be all at once, Inslee said, adding: “This isn’t a light switch.”
He has likened the more likely to pace of a return to normalcy to turning a dial … slowly.
Inslee also countered Trump on the safety of all vote by mail elections.
Trump has described such balloting as subject to fraud but Inslee called the state’s vote by mail system “tremendous work for democracy because it’s the easiest, safest, most reliable voting there is.
“Our numbers have gone up in voter participation. It’s been a spectacular success.
“When people risk their lives to go physically vote right now with this COVID epidemic, I know there are some in the other party who are afraid more people will vote if we have (mail-in voting).
“That shouldn’coulda fear. It should be a hope.” (dpa. NAN)
President Xi Jinping: China under pressure to open up on origin of coronavirus
Western nations are mounting pressure on China to admit that the deadly coronavirus that has paralysed the world slipped out of Wuhan lab.
Leading the pressure is United States, the worst affected by the virus.
Confirmed cases in the country are hurtling towards the 700,000 mark.
And 35,000 people have died.
Worldwide, the virus has infected more than 2.1 million people and killed about 140,000, according to worldometers.info.
The U.S. said it is probing the Wuhan lab connection to the virus crisis.
President Trump: his country wants some answers from China on the virus
The new focus on China’s role came as the world wrestles with a collapsed economy that has created historic jobless numbers.
Only today, Britain, Japan, Australia and New York state extended lockdown measures.
President Donald Trump, who initially downplayed the illness has been attacking China for weeks.
His campaign has won converts, especially among other Western nations.
Dominic Raab: it can’t be business as usual with China
This was evident after a videoconference among leaders of the Group of Seven industrialised democracies.
British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told reporters there could be no “business as usual” with China.
“We’ll have to ask the hard questions about how it came about and how it couldn’t have been stopped earlier,” said Raab.
Raab has been acting for Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is recovering from the virus.
French President Emmanuel Macron warned not to be “naive” in believing China has handled the outbreak well.
“There are clearly things that have happened that we don’t know about,” he said in an interview with the Financial Times.
COVID-19 first emerged late last year in Wuhan, with China saying it was suspected to have been transmitted to humans at a meat market that butchered exotic animals.
The Washington Post and Fox News reported there were growing suspicions the virus in fact slipped out of a sensitive laboratory in Wuhan.
The lab was said to be studying bats, blamed for the SARS coronavirus outbreak in 2003.
Neither outlet suggested the virus was spread deliberately.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said China should have been more transparent about the laboratory.
“We’re doing a full investigation of everything we can to learn how it is the case that this virus got away, got out into the world and now has created so much tragedy — so much death,” Pompeo told Fox News.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone and called efforts to blame Beijing counterproductive.
Xi called attempts to politicize the pandemic “detrimental to international cooperation”.
Putin denounced “attempts by some people to smear China,” according to China’s state-run Xinhua news agency.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian quoted the World Health Organization as saying there was no evidence the virus was produced in a lab.
“Many well-known medical experts in the world also believe that the so-called laboratory leak hypothesis has no scientific basis,” Zhao said.
Zhai had previously outraged the United States by spreading a theory that US troops introduced the coronavirus in Wuhan.
Was the coronavirus a virus bred at a Wuhan laboratory.The West and many parts of the world want a transparent answer from China.
Jos—No fewer than nine persons mostly children and a pregnant woman have been killed at the Hura community, Maiyanga in Kwall district of Bassa local government area of Plateau State.
They were killed on Tuesday night by suspected herdsmen.
According to the residents of the community, the suspected herdsmen, speaking Fulfulde allegedly invaded their community when they were preparing to retire to bed.
Apart from the dead, houses and yam barns were also razed in the attack coming at the time the state was in total lockdown.
The State Police Command through the Police Public Relations Officer, Gabriel Uba, confirmed the development saying, “Unknown gunmen attacked Hura village in Kwall district. As a result nine persons were killed and 22 houses, two motorcycle and two generators were burnt.
“The Commissioner of Police immediately visited the Community along with some very senior officers of the Command. More men have been deployed to the area to ensure that the community is peaceful and calm. The Command kindly solicits for useful information from members of the public to assist the police in arresting the pepatrators of this act.”
Recall that on April 8, 2020, armed assailants killed four persons including a newly ordained Pastor of Evangelical Church Winning All, ECWA, Pastor Matthew Tagwai, in Ngbra-Zongo village.
Earlier, on 31st of March 2020, three persons including a pregnant woman were killed in Ncha village.
The next day, April 1,, 2020, three other persons were killed in neighbouring Nkiedow-hro village and seven persons killed in Hukke village.
These villages are in the Irigwe Chiefdom of Bassa Local government area.
The Paramount Chief of the Chiefdom, His Royal Highness, Ronku Aka, while lamenting the killings, said, “We are facing two monumental killers – killer herdsmen and coronavirus. We are asked to stay at home to be safe from coronavirus, but we are still being killed by herdsmen. This makes us endangered species in every respect.”
CNA Staff, Apr 15, 2020 / 12:01 pm (CNA).- Three Southern California ecclesial communities have filed a lawsuit against Governor Gavin Newsom, alleging that social distancing orders he imposed amid COVID-19 violate their first amendment right to freedom of religion.
Newsom imposed a stay-at-home order for the state March 19, mandating that nonessential businesses close their doors and restricting gatherings. Newsom’s order does not list houses of worship as “essential.”
The Center for American Liberty, a California-based nonprofit, filed the suit April 13 in the United States District Court for the Central District of California. State Attorney General Xavier Becerra, as well as officials of San Bernardino and Riverside counties who imposed additional stay-at-home orders, are also named in the suit.
“If a Californian is able to go to Costco or the local marijuana shop or liquor store and buy goods in a responsible, socially distanced manner, then he or she must be allowed to practice their faith using the same precautions,” Harmeet Dhillon, chief executive of the Center for American Liberty, said in an April 13 statement.
The churches involved in the suit include Church Unlimited, a church located in Riverside county, whose pastor received a $1,000 fine for holding a Palm Sunday service.
The head pastor of Shield of Faith Family Church in San Bernardino county and the senior pastor of Word of Life Ministries International in Riverside county also are involved in the suit.
The churches argue that the state and local orders are overly broad, and that they can practice safe social distancing in the same manner as grocery stores and other businesses considered essential, the Associated Press reports.
San Bernardino county’s April 7 stay-at-home order mandated that faith-based services “must be electronic only through streaming or online technology,” adding that people may not leave their homes for “driving parades or drive-up services or to pick up non-essential items such as pre-packaged Easter eggs or bags filled with candy and toys at a drive-thru location.”
Riverside county’s order, imposed April 10, allowed for drive-up church services the weekend of Easter, but mandated that such activities would be prohibited after Easter Sunday.
On Friday, a federal judge refused to allow a small church in Campo, Abiding Place Ministries, to gather for Easter Sunday services, the AP reports.
As the COVID-19 pandemic has spread in the U.S., state and local governments have enacted various restrictions on public activities and gatherings.
Some officials have curtailed public religious services entirely and threatened serious consequences for churches which do not comply.
New York City mayor Bill DeBlasio threatened to close down churches and synagogues permanently if they still held public services. Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear (D) said state police would record the license plate numbers of attendees of large religious services over Easter, with local health officials requiring them to self-quarantine for 14 days afterward. Virginia Governor Ralph Northam (D) criminalized certain public gatherings of 10 or more people, which included religious gatherings.
In Kansas, Governor Laura Kelly (R) initially exempted religious services from the state’s limitation of public gatherings to no more than 10 people, but then included religious services in the regulations.
Local authorities on April 8 fined attendees at a drive-in service at a Baptist church in Greenville, Mississippi, prompting the Department of Justice to file a statement of interest on Tuesday in support of the church.
Attorney General William Barr issued a statement April 14 “on religious practice and social distancing” where he clarified that governments cannot put special burdens on religious practice that they do not also impose upon other activities.
“For example, if a government allows movie theaters, restaurants, concert halls, and other comparable places of assembly to remain open and unrestricted, it may not order houses of worship to close, limit their congregation size, or otherwise impede religious gatherings,” Barr said.
“Religious institutions must not be singled out for special burdens.”
The Communist Chinese government delayed for six days before warning its citizens that the coronavirus outbreak in the city of Wuhan had likely become a pandemic, allowing thousands of people to become infected, according to a report on Wednesday.
President Xi Jinping warned the public on Jan. 20 – nearly a week after Chinese officials had privately determined on Jan. 14 that the virus had evolved into a pandemic, the Associated Press reported, citing expert estimates based on infection data.
During those crucial days, more than 3,000 people came down with the coronavirus, as tens of thousands of people attended a mass banquet in Wuhan, the epicentre of the virus, and millions of Chinese began travelling for Lunar New Year celebrations.
The first case of coronavirus in Wuhan was officially reported on Dec. 31.
The coronavirus outbreak has since surged around the world, infecting more than 2 million people and causing more than 127,000 deaths.
“This is tremendous,” Zuo-Feng Zhang, an epidemiologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, told the AP. “If they took action six days earlier, there would have been much fewer patients and medical facilities would have been sufficient. We might have avoided the collapse of Wuhan’s medical system.”
That nearly weeklong delay came after China’s version of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for two weeks didn’t register any cases from local officials.
Yet, during that period from Jan. 5 to Jan. 17, hundreds of people were showing up at hospitals in Wuhan and across the country.
The report said it’s unclear whether local officials failed to report the cases or whether government officials didn’t record them. According to other reports, US spy agencies “have concluded that the Chinese government itself does not know the extent of the virus and is as blind as the rest of the world … Midlevel bureaucrats in the city of Wuhan … and elsewhere in China have been lying about infection rates, testing and death counts, fearful that if they report numbers that are too high they will be punished, lose their position or worse.”
But, according to experts interviewed by the AP, it’s clear that Beijing’s bureaucratic hurdles, stranglehold on information, lack of transparency and reluctance to deliver bad news up the chain of command stifled early warnings.
The report noted that eight doctors were punished for “rumor-mongering” — an announcement broadcast on national television on Jan. 2.
“Doctors in Wuhan were afraid,” said Dali Yang, a professor of Chinese politics at the University of Chicago. “It was truly intimidation of an entire profession.”
China denied a “cover-up” or “lack of transparency,” according to the AP report, quoting foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian calling the allegations “groundless” last week.
The Chinese Communist Party didn’t fully respond to the possible pandemic and launch a national plan until the first case was reported outside China on Jan. 13 in Thailand.
It then began distributing testing kits, eased the criteria for confirming cases and ordered more screenings for patients — all without notifying the public.
The Federal Government has said that people with below N5,000 in their bank account will benefit from the new palliatives to cushion the effect of the lockdown as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, on the lives of those living in the cities. The government also said that it will be using the mobile networks, to know people that top up the credit units for their phones with may be N100 or less.
Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, Hajiya Sadiya Farouq stated this while briefing State House correspondents after meeting behind closed doors with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The Minister also said that the Ministry will now focus on the urban poor as it carries out President Buhari’s directive on the distribution of palliatives.
According to her, “You are aware that the President in his broadcast of Monday 13th April, directed that we expand the beneficiaries of the conditional cash transfer and in this regard, we are going to focus more now on the urban poor.
“These are people who depend on the informal sector to earn their livelihood; they are daily wage earners and these are the people that we are really going to focus more on as well as people living with disabilities.”
Giving details on how to identify the beneficiaries of the stimulus, she said that the Ministry has three options to be adopted in selecting the beneficiaries of the scheme.
She said, “Well, we have three options; one, we are going to use the national social register that we already have, two, we are also going to focus on the urban poor as I mentioned, by using their verified BVN accounts to get them, that is, people that have an account balance of N5,000 and below.
“We are also using the mobile networks, to know people that top up the credit units for their phones with may be N100 or less. Those are also people that we consider to be poor and vulnerable. So, these are the three options that we are exploring and I am sure that by the time we get this data we will be able to give this intervention.”
Thousands of residents, in Sapele,Delta State, today, grounded the timber town to a halt, when they took to the streets of the town, in protest, demanding an end to Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa’s extension of lockdown in the state.
The governor had made a broadcast to residents of the state, yesterday morning announcing the extension of the 14-day Lockdown which began on April 1, for another two weeks and imposing a dusk to dawn curfew.
This morning in defiance of the order, women in their hundreds took their protest to the streets of the town, as early as 7:30am demanding an end to the lockdown.
Chanting “we no go gree o, we no go gree” by some of the women, others chanted “freedom, freedom” the women in their thousands were joined by other residents of the town including artisans, tricycle motorcycle riders, and others
“We prefer to come outside and die than to be locked indoor, we have stayed inside for two weeks we can’t go to the market, we can’t go anywhere, we are hungry, we will not accept this” Madam Tina Akpometiro told Vanguard. Another woman who introduced herself as Mrs Oke James told Vanguard, they were tired of staying at home,
“we are hungry and we don’t want food, let us go out and fend for ourselves. We want to go back to our normal lives, we are tired of sitting at home”
A Keke rider who called himself Jonah Ameh said “though the step.was the right thing, they were tired of not being able to fend for their family and want an end to the lockdown”
Others, who spoke were Sapele-Okpe Community leader Dr. Vincent Ekariko, and Mr Aderopo Peters, a doctor, who demanded immediate release of food items, saying Deltans are hungry.
“If you say people should stay at home, tell me, what will they eat, while the leaders stock their home with foodstuff, no water, no electricity, no food for the poor ones, what do you want them to do? They should stay at home and die? ” Dr Ekariko ask.
The Sapele local government chairman, Hon Eugene Inoaghan, who tried to pacify the crowd with loads of security men was openly rebuffed, with the crowd chanting “we want freedom, we want freedom” however there was pandemonium when the chairman left, with the crowd openly confronting security men with stones, an action that led to burning of tyres and wood.
The Head, European Union Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Amb. Ketil Karlsen, has disclosed that the N21bn (€50m) donated to Nigeria by the EU is largely meant for the people.
“That is why part of the €50m we provide will also be for the relief and safety net for the most vulnerable people, internally displaced persons. The poor people that depend on the informal markets, they do day-to-day work to put food on their table; the elderly, IDPs, and these, particularly, vulnerable people are the centre-stage of our intervention,” he said.
Riot Breaks Out In SA Over Lack Of Enough Food During Lockdown
By: Monica M.f
South African police on Tuesday fired rubber bullets and teargas in clashes with Cape Town township residents protesting over access to food aid during a coronavirus lockdown.
Hundreds of angry men and women fought running battles with the police, hurling rocks and setting up barricades on the streets with burning tyres in Mitchells Plain over undelivered food parcels.
“We have small children. We want to eat. They must also eat,” said a mother Nazile Bobbs. “They said we are going to get parcels, where (are) the parcels? How long are we (going to be) in the lockdown?”
South Africa is currently in the middle of a five-week lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus which has so far infected more than 2,400 people.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has promised to provide basics such as water and food supplies to the poorest South Africans.
Many people, especially those working in the informal economy, are unable to ply their trade and have lost income due to the lockdown which came into effect on March 27.
Community leader Liezl Manual said people came out of their homes “frustrated wanting to know” where the food parcels were.
Another resident Denise Martin, said they would “rather die of coronavirus than to die in our homes of hunger”.
Akin Abayomi, commissioner for health in Lagos state, says a total of 118,000 households have been reached in the active case search of possible COVID-19 cases in communities.
At a media briefing on Tuesday, the commissioner said community search was activated to limit the spread of the disease in the state which has the highest number of patients in the country.
In the course of the search, 119 persons were found with symptoms of Coronavirus.
Tests are noe being conducted to determine their status.
“We’ve embarked on an active case search in communities. The idea is to go to hot spots and go from door to door with our health personnel. So far, in the last two days, we’ve visited 118,000 households and we’re looking for the typical symptoms of COVID-19. We’ve identified about 119 people who have the symptoms that are suggestive of COVID-19,” he said.
“But let me remind you that COVID is one of the viruses that can cause respiratory symptoms. There are many viruses. So, the idea is to take samples from these 119 and analyse them and that would give us an idea of how much COVID-19 activity is happening in the communities.”
The exercise tagged “Community Active Case Search” was announced by the commissioner last week, and it is expected to run for an initial period of two weeks.
He said those identified to have COVID-19 will be taken to the isolation centres, in order to reduce the opportunities for transmission.
A file photo of Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa. Photo
The Delta State Government has announced another two-week stay-at-home order as part of measures to contain the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in the state.
The earlier declared lockdown which started on April 1, expires today, by 11:59 pm but the new directive takes effect immediately.
According to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, in addition to that, a dusk to dawn curfew will also be enforced by security agencies in the state.
Residents have therefore, been advised to adhere strictly to the guidelines and directives given by government and health authorities which is geared towards containing the spread of this deadly virus
Meanwhile, the governor also noted that modalities are being worked out to ensure that health workers engaged in the isolation centers are adequately compensated even as they carry out their daily operations.
China has approved clinical trials for two more experimental vaccines to combat the novel coronavirus, officials said Tuesday, as the world’s scientists race to beat the pandemic.
The vaccines use inactivated coronavirus pathogens, and the approvals pave the way for early-stage human trials, Wu Yuanbin, an official from China’s Ministry of Science and Technology told a regular press briefing.
China’s state food and drug administration on Monday approved one vaccine developed by a Beijing-based unit of Nasdaq-listed Sinovac Biotech, Wu said.
Another vaccine, being developed by the Wuhan Institute of Biological Products and the Wuhan Institute of Virology, was approved on Sunday, he added.
China now has three different clinical trials for three possible coronavirus vaccines in the works.
Beijing approved the first trial for a vaccine developed by the military-backed Academy of Military Medical Sciences and Hong Kong-listed biotech firm CanSino Bio on March 16.
That day the US drug developer Moderna said it had begun human tests for their vaccine with the US National Institutes of Health.
“Vaccination of subjects during the first phase of clinical trials and the recruitment of volunteers for the second phase of clinical trials began on April 9,” Wu said.
“It’s the world’s first novel coronavirus vaccine to initiate Phase II clinical studies.”
There are currently no approved vaccines or medication for the COVID-19 disease, which has killed more than 120,000 people worldwide and infected nearly two million.
Chinese teams were also racing to develop vaccines using other methods including using attenuated influenza virus vectors or injecting specific nucleic acid.
Several of these projects are currently undergoing animal testing and quality inspections, Wu said.
“The vaccines using the above technical methods are expected to be submitted for clinical trials in April and May,” he added.
Experts have raised hopes that a vaccine could be ready within 18 months.
On Monday evening, President Muhammadu Buhari, in his televised nationwide address to Nigerians, shared that the lockdown has been extended to 14 more days and there is a high possibility that the lockdown might get extended again.
Nigerians are questioning the federal and state government on the necessary measures that have been put in place for the sustenance of citizens during this period. In some neighbourhoods in Lagos, Ogun, Oyo and other states in the country, reports of theft, unrest, and chaos by people who have been left jobless since the lockdown commenced, has been making the rounds on social media.
People are scared, people are hungry, people are angry.
Recently, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC)started the distribution of text messages to phone numbers, reminding Nigerians on how to stay safe and providing necessary updates on the current situation of COVID-19 in the country, but Nigerians don’t want that.
What Nigerians are asking is for the government to commence the disbursement of funds through Bank Verification Number (BVN) to every individual in the country.
What’s your take on this? Do share with us in the comment section.
Here’s what Nigerians are saying on the streets of Twitter:
An idle hand is the devil’s workshop. Hunger is capable of creating criminals #PayUsOurPalliativesViaBvn
I repeat, all the donations announced by Nigerian billionaires are fake, at best they are government patronage.
UBA & First Bank for instance could have easily paid their customers via BVN. The only reason Buhari, the APC has refused to#payusviaBVN is because they are LOOTERS!!
— ๐ณ๐ฌ NEFERTITI ๐บ๐ธ (@firstladyship) April 14, 2020
38.5 million bank accounts has Bank Verification Number according to the Nigerian Interbank Settlement Scheme.
Refusing to #PayUsOurPalliativesViaBVN only indicate the interest of the government and those in charge in smuggling and misusing the Palliative.#payusviaBVN
— LONDON used HUSBAND MATERIAL (@Horpheiyhemei) April 14, 2020
About 40% of Nigerians are banked while the remaining are unbanked… taking one route it will take time or unreach to some vulnerable, but i thought the FG to use both route in order to extend palliatives. But there are selfishness among us#PayUsOurPalliativesViaBVN
President Muhammadu Buhari Presidential Address, April 13, 2020.
By Dirisu Yakubu
ABUJA- The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has described Monday’s COVID-19 pandemic broadcast by President Muhammadu Buhari as very disappointing.
This is as the party said the speech, just like “pre-recorded broadcast of March 29, 2020, failed to address salient issues of urgent concerns to Nigerians in their daily struggle against the spread of the plague in our country.”
The party’s reaction was contained in a statement late on Monday night by its spokesman, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan.
The statement read: “The party expresses sadness that Mr. President again failed to show leadership and displayed total lack of touch with reality as he failed to give any hope on palliatives to the ordinary Nigerians as they face hunger and economic pangs of the lockdown.
“It is more painful that President Buhari could not address the immediate needs of the people or provide a trajectory that will take care of their future.
“Instead, Mr. President bored our nation with a rehash of global data already known to Nigerians in addition to promises that are far-flung departures from the harsh realities on the ground.
“Nigerians expected Mr. President to directly address the established failures of his palliatives distribution, particularly the provision of funds to the poorest of the poor, which has been marred by allegations of corruption and diversion of funds. This is in addition to allegations of diversion of rice and other food items meant for the poor masses.
“Can Mr. President claim not to be aware that not a handful of Nigerians have received any palliatives and that huge majority of our citizens are complaining that they have not been reached with any panacea despite his administration’s claim of having reached 2.6 million household?
“Announcing the expansion of the palliative scope to 3.6 million households without addressing the failure of the scheme and with no parameter to showcase the declared expansion is an encouragement of the corrupt system that has been depriving Nigerians.
“The PDP challenges Mr. President to disprove Nigerians by publishing documents showing the beneficiaries of the claimed 2.6 million household social intervention, the benefiting communities as well as the parameters that will be deployed for the additional one million household.
“Our party holds that what has been witnessed in the last two weeks is a total incapacity and fraud by those he has currently charged with the responsibility of taking palliatives to the people.
“Already, there are serious agitations and unrests in Lagos, Ogun and some parts of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT where Nigerians, who earn their means of livelihood on daily basis and who have been locked out from their means of subsistence and can no longer withstand the pangs of hunger, are becoming restless.
“Our party still believes that Mr. President needs to quickly retool his approach and adopt an all-encompassing model that will take care of the hunger and deprivations, which this lockdown has imposed on Nigerians
“President Buhari should be forthcoming on what palliatives are accruable, in the immediate, to each state of the federation in this national fight against the pandemic.
“This is because, given our peculiar federal system, we still insist that the fastest approach to reach the people is through the state and local governments using methods like traditional institutions, community leadership and faith based organizations.
“The PDP therefore charges President Buhari to reorder his approach to cover the incentives his administration will provide to save the lives and jobs of Nigerians and then address the nation again accordingly.
“PDP invites compatriots to continue to provide help for one another as we continue to stay safe and obey World Health Organizations guidelines.”
Co-founder of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and a global philanthropist, Melinda Gates has raised concerns over the possible fatality rate in Africa and other developing countries from the coronavirus pandemic.
In an interview with CNN, Melinda warned that if the world does not act fast enough, then there will be dead bodies “out on the streets“ of Africa.
She said:
It’s going to be horrible in the developing world. Part of the reasons you are seeing the case numbers still do not look very bad is because they don’t have access to many tests. Look at what is happening in Ecuador, they are putting bodies out on the streets, you are going to see that in countries in Africa.
She added, “what China had to do to isolate an enormous part of its population. My first thought was Africa. How in the world are they going to deal with this? I have been in townships all over Africa and slums. When we talk in country physical distancing and hand-washing, if you live in slums who can’t physical distance, you have to go out and get your meals. You don’t have clean water to wash your hands”.
Well, this statement didn’t go down well with Nigerians, with many ‘casting and binding’, and rejecting ‘evil forces and powers’.
Melinda Gates, who has visited several African countries, and has donated her time and money in ensuring the wellbeing of children suffering from malnourishment, malaria and other health issues, pointed out that slums in Africa will be more vulnerable to the COVID-19.
Well, Nigerians are still very upset with the statement.
See the video here:
I listened to that interview and Melinda Gates was implying that if necessary measures are not put in place to prevent the Covid-19 outbreak in Africa, then we will be done for it. pic.twitter.com/subTDIThCx
My heart goes out to Bill & Melinda Gates. The kinds of propaganda I have received, making them look like mass murderers, would turn even some reasonable folks with limited reasoning. Harder to take when you’ve dedicated your life to the upliftment of the human race.
"I see dead bodies all over the streets of Africa Melinda Gates Horrendous vision from a horrendous lady with a horrendous husband. We reject it and we return it to sender! The agenda of satan for Africa shall not stand.Those that have dug a pit for us shall fall into that pit. pic.twitter.com/PxfWJrH8cH
America hve more coronavirus cases than all of Africa combined, Melinda Gates did not see any dead body on their street yet.. Bt is Africa She's seeing dead body?
Matthew 7:15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
— Gร LรฌLรฉo๐ณ๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ญ (@Lucasscot_101) April 13, 2020
Melinda Gates, wife of Bill Gates, says she's afraid Africa will soon have dead bodies on its streets. I'm not surprised, her husband Bill Gates said that a long time ago. Africa, even though our leaders are worst, we'll come out of this. Stay home, and let's fight this together.
— Kumasi King Kong–3Ks๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ค๐ (@Meek_AA) April 13, 2020
I've watched this interview that Melinda Gates had on CNN a couple of times and nowhere did I hear her say "Africa streets will be littered with bodies" where did all these bloggers, journalists, influencers get their info from…..#threadpic.twitter.com/D0Qzq7UAfu
Melinda Gates says the lack of testing kits in Africa is the reason our numbers are low but soon we’ll have bodies out in the streets. I’m sure Bill and his wife have rituals every night hoping Africa gets affected the most ๐๐ถ#MelindaGates back to sender!!! pic.twitter.com/FaVrcCe0bc
