With Covid-19 confining within the four walls of their rooms and home, the internet becomes and is becoming a ready resource or platform for commercial and noncommercial interactions.  The implication of this is that more and more people are becoming prone to using the internet. That also has an impact on the global digital population. According to information from Statistica, about 4.57 billion people were active users of the internet in April 2020. This represents 59% of global population.

Among the global internet users, China, India and the United States of America recorded more internet users than the rest of the countries.  As Covid-19 makes it more obvious that much can be done through the internet without any physical presence, the current global online penetration rate of 59% will increase in no distant time. Places like Northern Europe are almost there with a 95% internet penetration rate, Other countries with high internet penetration rates include the United Arab Emirate (UAE), Denmark, and South Korea. Ironically, the next-door neighbour to South Korea, North Korea has almost zero internet penetration rate.

Qua Vadis Nigeria:  Nigeria as a country and Nigerians as a people have not been doing too badly when it comes to the issue of digital population. According to available data from the National Bureau of Statistics, active internet users/subscribers total 136,203,231  as at the end of Q1 2020. That represents almost 51% of the entire population. Compared to a similar period a year ago, Nigeria recorded an increase in internet penetration rate of 17.1% on year on year basis and 8.03% increase on a quarter to date basis.

State-wide digital population: Lagos state has the greatest number of internet users in Nigeria, with slightly over 17 million users, followed by Kano state with 8.3 million users and then Ogun state with 8.03 internet users. The state with the least internet penetration is Bayelsa state where only 985 thousand people were connected to the internet as at Q1 2020.

MTN remains the carrier with the largest number of subscribers as 57.3 million internet subscribers in Nigeria are with MTN, while AIRTEL came second with 36.8 million subscribers but closely followed by GLO with 33.9 million subscribers. All those three benefits from 9Mobile, whose loss of a few of its subscribers added to the subscription growth of the bigger market players.

Voice subscription: A lot more Nigerians are using their phones for voice services, though. According to the same data from the National Bureau of Statistics, 189, 282,796 Nigerians have voice subscriptions in Q1 2020.  This implies that about 54 million Nigerians have phones that are not internet-enabled. With Covid-19 and the need for students in the tertiary and secondary schools being required to do some or most of their assignments on the internet, that number will change very soon.

The Federal Government has released guidelines for the safe reopening of schools after COVID-19 pandemic closures.

This was disclosed by the Federal Ministry of Education on its official website on Monday, as it published the guidelines and outlined actions, measures, and requirements needed for the safe reopening of schools after the pandemic is contained.

The 52-paged communique, which was signed by the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, and Minister of State (Education), Hon. Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, was developed in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Environment, Federal Ministry of Health, and health safety experts in the country.

Adamu said, “Now is the time to plan and address the eventual safe reopening of schools and learning facilities. It will be recalled that at the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria, schools and all learning facilities were closed in order to safeguard the health and general wellbeing of our children, youths, teachers, and educational personnel.

“As a responsible government, it is also our duty to provide comprehensive guidelines for a safe and hitch-free reopening of schools and learning facilities. We do so knowing that the health, safety, and security of learners, teachers, education personnel, and families are priorities.”

According to him, the Guidelines for Schools and Learning Facilities Reopening after COVID-19 Pandemic Closures outlines key strategies for implementing safe and efficient and equitable plans for school reopening and operations.

Mr Adamu further noted that the document focuses on attendance, social distancing, hygiene, cleaning, and non-pharmaceutical interventions for safe and healthy school activities and programs.

The minister noted that given that COVID-19 may be with us for a while, the guidelines also highlight the urgent need to maintain and improve upon distance-learning programs, adding that the government’s aim is to identify and strengthen programs that will guarantee the recovery of learning gaps resulting from the pandemic

WHO warns

Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned global leaders that Covid-19 will not disappear in the coming months, and it’s unrealistic to expect that a perfect vaccine will become available to everyone immediately.

This was disclosed by Head, Emergencies programme, WHO, Mike Ryan, at a briefing in Geneva, Switzerland, on Monday.

Ryan is optimistic that things won’t return to normal “for the foreseeable future,” as confirmed cases worldwide exceeded 13 million.

He explained that it would be unrealistic to expect that a perfect vaccine will become available to everyone immediately, and it’s not realistic to expect Covid-19 to disappear in the coming months.

.@DrMikeRyan responded to a question about the role that children play in #COVID19 transmission ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/K3XynONA1e

— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) July 13, 2020

WHO’s stand on when schools can open

Ryan said, “The best way to reopen schools is to do so once countries succeed in combating the spread of the disease.”

Technical Lead Officer, WHO, Maria Van Kerkhove, said, “Not enough is known about the role of children in transmission, though several recent studies suggest that children over 10 are more susceptible to infection than those under 10.”

She added that WHO has sent two scientists as an advance mission to China to work remotely with local researchers as local rules require them to stay in quarantine.

They are learning how animals transmitted the disease will help in fighting it.

The spread of novel Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) in Nigeria continues to record significant increase as the latest statistics provided by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control reveal Nigeria now has 33,153 confirmed cases.

On the 13th of July 2020, 595 new confirmed cases and 4 deaths were recorded in Nigeria, having carried out a total daily test of 2,046 samples across the country.

To date, 33,153 cases have been confirmed, 13,671 cases have been discharged and 744 deaths have been recorded in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. A total of 183,294 tests have been carried out as of July 13th, 2020 compared to 181,248 tests a day earlier.

COVID-19 Case Updates- 13th July 2020,

• Total Number of Cases – 33,153
• Total Number Discharged – 13,671
• Total Deaths – 744
• Total Tests Carried out – 183,294

According to the NCDC, the 595 new cases were reported from 20 states- Lagos (156), Oyo (141), FCT (99), Edo (47), Kaduna (27), Ondo (22), Rivers (20), Osun (17), Imo (13), Plateau (10), Nasarawa (8), Anambra (8), Kano (5), Benue (5), Borno (5), Ogun (4), Taraba (3), Gombe (3), Kebbi (1), Cross River (1).

Meanwhile, the latest numbers bring Lagos state total confirmed cases to 12,583, followed by Abuja (2,675), Oyo (1,867), Edo (1,778), Rivers (1,388),  Delta (1,359), Kano (1,314), Ogun (1,091),  Kaduna (1,016), Ondo (738), Katsina (669), Ebonyi (616), Borno (591), Plateau (543), Gombe (533), Bauchi (521), Enugu (476), Abia (405),  Imo (399), Kwara (330).

Jigawa state has recorded 321 cases, Bayelsa (313), Osun (262), Nasarawa (252), Sokoto (153), Akwa Ibom and Niger (145),  Benue (126), Adamawa (110), Anambra (101), Kebbi (87), Zamfara (76), Ekiti (63), Yobe (62), Taraba (30), Cross River (10) while Kogi state has recorded 5 cases only.

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Lock Down and Curfew

In a move to combat the spread of the pandemic disease, President Muhammadu Buhari directed the cessation of all movements in Lagos and the FCT for an initial period of 14 days, which took effect from 11 pm on Monday, 30th March 2020.

The movement restriction, which was extended by another two-weeks period, has been partially put on hold with some businesses commencing operations from May 4. On April 27th, 2020, Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari declared an overnight curfew from 8 pm to 6 am across the country, as part of new measures to contain the spread of the COVID-19. This comes along with the phased and gradual easing of lockdown measures in FCT, Lagos, and Ogun States, which took effect from Saturday, 2nd May 2020, at 9 am.

On Monday, 29th June 2020 the federal government extended the second phase of the eased lockdown by 4 weeks and approved interstate movement outside curfew hours with effect from July 1, 2020.

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