NEWS AGENCY OF NIGERIA

Ogun govt. inaugurates clinical skills lab for midwifery students

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By Yetunde Fatungase

The Ogun government in collaboration with the United Nations Population Funds (UNFPA), on Wednesday, inaugurated a skills laboratory to aid the learning of midwifery students.

Speaking during the inauguration at the School of Midwifery, Idi-Aba, Abeokuta, wife of Ogun governor, Mrs Bamidele Abiodun, said the laboratory would improve clinical experience for midwifery students.

Abiodun said the structure was part of the efforts of the government to reduce maternal mortality by 25 per cent at the end of the year 2022.

She noted that the laboratory, which was equipped with modern infrastructure, would facilitate learning and keep students abreast of current trends in maternal and child health.

“This new laboratory will help broaden the knowledge of students and facilitate learning, especially in the field of obstetrics and gynecology in line with global best practices,” Abiodun said.

The governor’s wife thanked the UNFPA for collaborating with the government to make the project realisable.

She said the laboratory was one of Gov. Dapo Abiodun’s investment in maternal and child health.

Abiodun expressed optimism that it would be one of the best of such facilities in the South-West region of the country.

The Commissioner for Health, Dr Tomi Coker, said the ongoing renovation and equipping of primary health centers across the state, would be complemented by skilled healthcare workers.

Coker said this would contribute to the reduction of mortality from childbirth.

“Through our collaboration with UNFPA, we have been able to revamp the skills laboratory with mannequins that will simulate real child delivery scenarios.

“This will help our student midwives to have the right skills for safe child delivery in line with global best practices,” she said.

Coker assured that the government would continue to promote capacity building initiatives for health care students and workers across the state. (NAN)

India’s COVID-19 deaths cross 150,000 mark, total cases reach 10,374,932

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Deaths due to COVID-19 pandemic crossed the 150,000 mark in India on Wednesday, reaching 150,114, said the data released by the federal health ministry.

As many as 264 deaths took place during the past 24 hours, according to the data.

According to it, the total number of COVID-19 cases rose to 10,374,932, even as 18,088 new cases were registered since Tuesday.

There are still 227,546 active cases in the country, while 9,997,272 people have been successfully treated and discharged from hospitals.

India continues to be the second worst-affected country globally by the pandemic, after the U.S.

Meanwhile, the federal government has ramped up COVID-19 testing facilities across the country, even as more than 170 million tests have been conducted so far.

As many as 177,463,405 tests were conducted till Tuesday, out of which 931,408 tests were conducted on Tuesday alone, the latest data issued by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) showed on Wednesday.

Delhi, which has been one of the most COVID-19 affected places in the country, has been witnessing a downward trend over the past few days.

As many as 442 new cases and 12 deaths were registered in the national capital through Tuesday.

So far, as many as 10,609 people have died in the national capital due to COVID-19, confirmed the Delhi’s health department.

Indian scientists have developed two COVID-19 vaccines and the process of vaccination is about to begin any time this month.

Last Sunday the Drugs Controller-General of India (DCGI) had given its approval to these two vaccines for emergency use.

DCGI Dr. V.G. Somani said that the permission was granted for “restricted use in emergency situations.

“The Subject Expert Committee (SEC) of Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) met on Jan. 1 and Jan. 2 and made recommendations in respect of a proposal for restricted emergency approval of the two COVID-19 virus vaccines.”

“The two COVID-19 vaccines developed by ‘Serum Institute of India (SII)’ and ‘Bharat Biotech’ respectively, as well as Phase 3 clinical trial of the third one developed by ‘Cadila Healthcare Limited’ were part of the recommendation.”

The SII, situated in southwestern city of Pune, had presented its Recombinant Chimpanzee Adenovirus vector vaccine (Covishield) encoding the SARS-CoV-2 Spike (S) glycoprotein with technology transfer from AstraZeneca/Oxford University, said a DCGI statement.

Last week, a Pan-India dry run was carried out in a bid to assess the overall preparations in place for the vaccination drive, often described as one of the biggest such drives in the world. (NAN)

COVID-19: Nigeria reports 1,354 highest daily infections

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By Abujah Racheal

Nigeria has recorded 1,354 new infections of the deadly coronavirus (COVID-19), the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) disclosed on its verified website on Tuesday.

The health agency said the figure represented the highest number in a single day since the first index case was reported in Nigeria on Feb. 27, 2020, smashing the record of 1,204 infections recorded on Monday.

The figure also showed that the infection rate has continued to soar across the country, especially in Lagos State, which has remained the epicentre of the pandemic in Nigeria.

With the 1,354 newly infected people the NCDC put the total number of residents who had contracted the disease at 92,705.

The public health agency reported one additional new death in the past 24 hours.

The agency said that 20 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) recorded the new infections with Lagos State topping the list with 712 victims and the FCT coming second with 145 cases.

Plateau recorded 117 new cases, Kwara 81; Kaduna State 54; Sokoto 39; Oyo 38 and Rivers had 36.

Gombe had 21 newly infected people;  Enugu 20;  Akwa Ibom 16;  Bauchi and Delta 14 each  and Ebonyi reported 13.

Anambra registered nine newly infected residents; Taraba and Edo, eight each;  Kano State,  three; Osun and Ekiti two each and Ogun had one.

According to the NCDC, in the past 24 hours 697 victims had recovered from the disease.

“Our discharges today (Tuesday) include 324 community recoveries in Lagos State and 137 community recoveries in the FCT,  managed in line with guidelines,” it said.

The public health agency has said that a multi-sectoral national Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) activated at Level 3, is coordinating response activities nationwide.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that at present 14,990 active cases were being managed by the NCDC.

This figure is nearly three times above the in-patients capacity of government hospitals and reference facilities being used for the treatment of the coronavirus.

As a result, some categories of patients are reportedly being treated at home for lack of bed space.

The NCDC is facing a greater challenge in coping with tracing the contacts of the active cases,  estimated to be above 100,000.

Nigeria’s testing capacity is still very low and restricted to only targeted high risk exposures and contacts of active cases and international travellers.

From Feb. 27, 2020 till date, only 980,046 samples of suspected infected people had been tested in a population of more than 200 million people.

Lagos, the FCT and Kaduna accounted for more than 70 per cent of the cases, with Lagos recording 250 deaths and the FCT 104.

Kogi had the least confirmed number of cases with only five and a fatality rate of about 50 per cent with two deaths and three survivors.

Lagos and the FCT had the highest burden of the active cases, 5,100 and 4,593 respectively.

Only two states, Kogi and Cross River, had no active case of the infection as of Jan. 5.

The country also approved 70 public, seven corporate and 32 commercial laboratories across the country with varying testing capacities. (NAN)

Nigeria hopes to get 42m doses of COVID-19 vaccine

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By Abujah Racheal

The National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) says Nigeria hopes to get 42 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine soon to cover one fifth of its population.

The Executive Director, NPHCDA, Dr Faisal Shuaib, disclosed this at the Presidential Task Force briefing on COVID-19, on Tuesday in  Abuja.

Shuaib said that the vaccine would be got through the global COVAX scheme.

He said that the initial doses would come as part of Nigeria’s plan to inoculate 40 per cent of the population in 2021.

“The COVAX scheme was set up to provide vaccines to poorer countries such as Nigeria, whose 200 million people and poor infrastructure pose a daunting challenge to medical officials rolling out the vaccinations, as the West African country battles a second, larger spike in coronavirus cases.

“Nigeria, where officials recorded low coronavirus numbers through much of 2020, had 1,204 new cases on Monday, its highest ever, as total confirmed cases edge closer to 100,000.

“Nigeria will first inoculate frontline health workers, first responders, national leaders, people vulnerable to coronavirus and the elderly,“ he said.

He said that Nigeria must educate its citizens on the importance of COVID-19 vaccination.

“We fear what we don’t understand,” he  noted. (NAN)

Second wave: Nurse appeals to governments on improved COVID-19 education

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By Oluwafunke Ishola

A registered nurse, Ms Edith Declan, has appealed to both the Federal and state governments to improve on educating the public on measures to curtail COVID-19 transmission and thus  strengthen Nigeria in fighting the second wave.

Declan, also an Adjunct Nursing Professor at Houston Community College, Texas, United States, said this during a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

She said that her visit to Lagos and Owerri revealed that compliance to COVID-19 safety measures of wearing face masks, hand washing and observing social distancing were absent in most places, except the airport.

“I feel that lots of education is required at this point, especially with the second wave that has   new variants of COVID-19 which is believed to be more virulent than the first.

“As funny as it seems, we still have a lot of people who don’t believe that COVID-19 exists, if you don’t believe something exists, you are not going to fight it.

“We, as Africans, don’t believe things till we see it. We don’t have this proactive mindset to things, we wait until the disaster happens before we address it.

“Some believe that COVID-19 is malaria or typhoid or other respiratory illnesses, and that it goes away after a while.

“Because the healthcare system and data collection are very poor, it is very difficult to ascertain who has COVID-19, what the numbers are, and how they can be assisted,” she said.

The professor noted that non-compliance to COVID-19 safety measures could be devastating to the country’s income.

Declan stressed that appropriate hand washing with soap and water, wearing of facemasks, and observing social distancing are still the best non-pharmaceutical interventions to reduce the virus spread.

According to Declan, the emergence of the COVID-19 vaccine has brought excitement and trepidation globally.

NAN reports that about 50 countries including the U.S., UK, China, Canada, Germany, Russia, United Arab Emirates, have started vaccinating their citizens against COVID-19.

Declan said that a lot of Americans had taken the vaccine, saying that she was yet to have any personal contact with anybody who reported any adverse effects to the vaccine.

“Of course, like the regular vaccine when people take the vaccine, there could be a little soreness, fever, light headedness or dizziness.

“Some people can have adverse reactions and it is a very minute percentage of the recipient, which is typical.

“Even with the food we eat, some people will eat egg and are very good, and some people will eat egg and will die.

“It’s not because the eggs are bad, it means that their system didn’t accept the eggs appropriately. The same thing applies to the vaccine,” she said.

Declan noted that the vaccines had been proven to be safe thus far, adding that while awaiting the arrival of the vaccine across the globe, everyone should maintain good hand washing, wearing of face masks, and observing social distancing.

She expressed optimism that working together individually and collectively would enhance the fight against the virus and ensure global success. (NAN)

731 Batch B NYSC members test positive for COVID-19 – PTF

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By Abujah Racheal

The Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 has revealed that 731 members of Batch B National Youths Service Corps (NYSC)   have tested positive for COVID-19.

The chairman, PTF on COVID-19 and Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr Boss Mustapha, stated this at the national briefing on COVID-19 on Tuesday in Abuja.

According to him, in continuation of the NYSC engagement, the PTF has conducted the testing of batch B corps members using RDTs. Out of the 35,419 in the Batch B, 731 tested positive compared to the 108 recorded in Batch A.

“It is on record that cases were recorded from corps members from every state of the federation,” he said. 

The PTF chairman said  “there is also a rising rate of infections among healthcare workers and this calls for the escalation of surveillance.

“In Africa, Nigeria has joined South Africa in reporting the highest daily infection cases.

“​As at date, the statistics for Nigeria shows the following: Cumulative cases: 91,351; Cumulative Tests: 958,911; Deaths: 1,318 and Week 53 recorded 57 deaths which is the highest for any single week since we started,” he said. 

Mustapha further stated that “We are pleased to inform you that the private sector – CACOVID has commenced supporting our response with 100 oxygen cylinders per day,  till the end of March, 2021, for distribution to critical care centres in Abuja.

“Furthermore, approval has been given to rehabilitate five oxygen plants across various tertiary health institutions in Abuja. The President has also approved that at least one oxygen plant should be established in each state of the federation immediately,” he said. 

On vaccines, he stated that ” the PTF is progressing on the issue of accessing vaccines for Nigerians and that  additional information would  be provided to Nigerians on accelerated vaccines introduction and deployment plan.

“What is currently confronting us is a critical phase of infections globally. We are constantly reviewing our strategy to emerging situations especially in risk communication, vaccine hesitancy, fake news/disinformation,” he further said. 

On sanctioning of defaulting passengers, the PTF said it “has commenced the sanctions on passengers who defaulted on day-7 post arrival tests.

“Their passport numbers have been published and travel restriction imposed for a period of six months effective from Jan. 1,  2021.

” The PTF has generated over 20,000 inbound passengers that have also defaulted. The publication will continue weekly till it is exhausted.

“​Nigerians should be aware that every defaulter is a threat to public health which is unacceptable to us and represents a draw back to the National Response. We have a duty to advise our relations, friends, associates to comply with laid down rules,” he added. (NAN)

Armenian president tests positive to Coronavirus

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Armenian President Armen Sarkissian has tested positive to COVID-19, said the presidential office on Tuesday.

According to the office, Sarkissian went to London on a New Year holiday with his family.

He underwent a successful leg surgery there and then showed symptoms of the novel coronavirus on Sunday.

Later, the result of his test for the coronavirus was positive.

Sarkissian will temporarily work remotely, said the office.

The number of COVID-19 cases in the country reached 160,544 on Tuesday, with 145,759 recoveries and 2,878 death in total, according to the Armenian Ministry of Health. (Xinhua/NAN)

Kano state records 40 new COVID-19 infections

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By Rabiu Sani-Ali

Kano State has recorded 40 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the total number of active cases in the state to 318.

The State Ministry of Health announced this on Tuesday via its verified Twitter handle @KNSMOH.

It said that 48 patients who recovered from the disease were also discharged in the last 24 hours in the state.

“Forty new cases were recorded from 286 results received on Monday from laboratories, 48 additional COVID-19 patients were also discharged,” it said.

The ministry disclosed that 58,765 samples were tested; out of which 2,364 were confirmed positive with 1,978 discharged.

It added that the state has so far recorded 68 COVID-19 related deaths since the outbreak of the pandemic in the state.

The ministry urged residents of the state to observe all COVID-19 protocols to curb spread of the disease.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that the state has witnessed upsurge in COVID-19 infections from 30 to 318 following the second wave of the disease in the country. (NAN)

Why we sealed 4, 219 premises, 2 drug markets in 2020 – PCN Registrar

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By Felicia Imohimi

The Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN) sealed 4, 219 pharmaceutical premises and two open drug markets in 2020.

The Registrar of the council, Dr Elijah Mohammed, gave the figures in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Abuja.

Mohammed said that the measure was targeted at sanitising pharmaceutical practice in order to protect the health of Nigerians.

Giving update of the council’s regulatory activities in 2020, the registrar said that 353 of the premises sealed were pharmacies, while 3, 866 were patent medicines shops.

He said that the council visited a total of 6, 132 premises, comprising 1,104 pharmacies and 5, 028 patent medicines shops.

“In an effort to achieve a well-ordered drug distribution system in the country, PCN closely monitored the development of the Coordinated Wholesale Centres (CWCs) across various locations in the country.

“An update of the status of various CWCs was recently forwarded to the minister of health.

“Among the premises sealed by the national enforcement team include those situated within the emerging open drug markets in Owerri and Abakaliki, in November and December 2020.

“Compliance directives were issued to 166 premises, comprising 92 pharmacies and 74 patent medicines shops.

The registrar added that 24 arrests were made and some of the  suspects already charged to court while others would  be arraigned at the conclusion of investigations.

Mohammed said that due to the COVID-19-induced restrictions, the council sought the permission of the Nigeria Police to enable its enforcement team to move across states.

“In the course of the restriction of movement, the need to control proliferation of illegal pharmaceutical premises became very obvious.

“This is because  owners of these premises took advantage of the health crisis to sell all kinds of medicines to the general public through unlicensed outlets,’’ he said.

He said that PCN would  step up the enforcement in 2021.

“This is to ensure that medicines sold in premises across the nation remain safe, effective and of good quality,” Mohammed said. (NAN)

COVID-19: Gov. Fintiri bans social gatherings

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By Muhammad Adam
Disturbed by the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic and violation of protocols, Gov. Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa has banned all social gatherings in the state until further notice.
Fintiri gave the directive in a statement issued by his Press Secretary,  Mr Humwashi Wonosikou, on Tuesday in Yola.
He warned that COVID-19 was real and is a global health crisis.
”I am highly disappointed over the lack of strick adherence to the COVID-19 protocols  and measures to reduce transmission of the virus.
“The measures, include advocacy of behaviours like wearing of face masks, social distancing, washing of hands, and restrictions on public gatherings.
“Therefore, I am reminding  the people of the state that the guidelines on restriction of movement issued in March, 2020, is still in force.
“All social gatherings of more than 50 people at this time is also still in force,” Fintiri said.
He said that hospitality businesses such as clubs, cinema halls, event centres, conferences and congresses and other similar gatherings with population beyond 100 remained banned.
According to the governor, movement between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. is also not allowed across the state.
He advised leadership of worship centres to ensure strict observance of all  COVID-19 protocols.
“Any club, event centre or business premises found contravening this directive will be shut downtown with immediate effect.
“Security agencies are hereby directed to ensure strict adherence to these protocols and any other protocol imposed by the Federal Government,” Fintiri said. ( NAN)
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