An experimental COVID-19 vaccine being created by America’s pharmaceutical giant, Pfizer, and the German firm, BioNTech, activated immune responses in receivers more than individuals naturally recovering from an infection, according to a small journal published online yesterday.

However, the research work has not yet been certified by other medical experts and it is still unknown what degree of immune response will protect an individual from falling sick. Still, medical experts praised Pfizer for publishing the data on 45 people and said the results encouraged moving to a larger clinical trial to test if the COVID-19 vaccine is actually safe and effective for humans.

“It’s the first positive data I’ve seen coming out of Operation Warp Speed,” Peter Jay Hotez, dean for the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine said to Washington Post, referring to the U.S. government effort to speed up the development, testing, and production of multiple coronavirus vaccines. “I’m really happy Pfizer took the initiative to publish it, whereas the others haven’t. I think we need to see more of this.”

Quick fact about COVID-19: Although for some individuals, the COVID-19 virus causes only mild illness, it can make other individuals seriously ill. The disease can be very fatal, especially among older individuals, and those with compromised immunities (such as diabetes, high blood pressure, or heart problems) appear to be more susceptible.

The 45 individuals were randomly selected in receiving injections of one of three different dose levels of the experimental COVID-19 vaccine. 21 days later, after the initial dose, they got a second one.

Ugur Sahin, co-founder, and chief executive of BioNTech, told the Financial Times that his firm was going for a higher level of neutralizing antibody responses in order to increase the probability that those individuals vaccinated are prevented from spreading COVID-19 or being infected again.

“If you don’t know the level required to control this virus if you don’t know the power of the enemy, you don’t want the response to be too weak,” Sahin said.

The World Bank has announced the appointment of 2 Vice Presidents for the newly created divisions in the Sub-Saharan African Regional portfolio, which was announced earlier in the year 2020.

This was disclosed by the Bretton Woods Institution in a press statement released on Wednesday July 1, 2020.

The newly created divisions – Western/Central Africa and the Eastern/Southern Africa – are a sign of the strong commitment of the World Bank to Africa.

The Sub-Saharan region had been led since 2018 by Hafez Ghanem, who now takes on the role of Vice President for Eastern and Southern Africa, while Ousmane Diagana becomes Vice President for Western and Central Africa today.

According to Hafez Ghanem, “Our commitment to Africa gets stronger every day and I am thrilled to work alongside Ousmane Diagana to deliver more resources to the people who need them the most. We are two Vice Presidents, but we see Africa as one, and will continue sharing lessons, expertise, and ideas across the continent.”

The creation of an additional Vice Presidency Unit is part of the World Bank Group’s continuous efforts to align resources with priorities. This will help drive the reforms and policies needed to achieve sustained and broad-based growth, alleviate poverty and raise living standards for people on the continent.

In his statement Ousmane Diagana said, “I am honored to lead the Bank’s efforts in West and Central Africa, with a strong focus on innovation, impact, and transformation. Working together with Hafez, I know we can and will do more to put countries and people first and find ways to confront today’s development challenges using all of the tools at our disposal.”

Diagana’s appointment comes as the Bank looks to strengthen the delivery of its Africa program and further improve its operational focus on regional portfolios to better support the transformational improvements that are possible in Africa.

The World Bank is expected to lend about $50 billion to 48 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, which is significantly more than what will be spent in any other region. This also makes up to one-third of the World Bank’s entire portfolio, which includes projects and programmes in areas like agriculture, energy, trade and transport, education, health, water and sanitation.

Ousmane Diagana is a Mauritanian national with more than 25 years of development experience, Diagana joined the Bank in 1992. As the Vice President of Western and Central Africa, Diagana will lead the World Bank’s strategic, analytical, operational and knowledge work in Western and Central Africa.

Since joining the Bank, Diagana has held several technical and managerial positions including Country Director for Mali, Niger, Chad, Guinea, and Country Director for Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Benin and Togo. Diagana has worked extensively in Fragile, Conflict and Violence (FCV) affected countries.

Prior to this appointment, Diagana was the World Bank Group Vice President for Human Resources. He also served as Vice President for Ethics and Business Conduct and World Bank Group Chief Ethics Officer. As World Bank Group Vice President for Human Resources, he has been central to many initiatives to bring staff closer to clients, particularly in FCV client countries.

Hafez Ghanem, an Egyptian and French national, is the Regional Vice President for Eastern and Southern Africa. A development expert with over 30 years of experience, Dr. Ghanem leads relations with 26 countries, and oversees over 280 projects totaling more than $49 billion.

Prior to his appointment, Dr. Ghanem served as the Vice President for Africa. Under his leadership, the World Bank supported inclusive growth and poverty reduction by financing projects that boost human capital, support private sector development, raise agricultural productivity, improve access to infrastructure, build resilience to climate change, and promote regional integration.

Intensifying assistance for fragile and conflict-affected states, promoting gender equality, and providing economic opportunities for youth were core to his vision for the Africa Region.

The spread of novel Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) in Nigeria touched a new milestone as the latest statistics provided by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control reveal Nigeria now has 26,484 confirmed cases.

On the 1st of July 2020, 790 new confirmed cases and 13 deaths were recorded in Nigeria, having carried out a total daily test of 4,205 samples across the country.

To date, 26,484 cases have been confirmed, 10,152 cases have been discharged and 603 deaths have been recorded in 35 states and the Federal Capital Territory. A total of 138,462 tests have been carried out as of July 1st, 2020 compared to 134,257 tests a day earlier.

COVID-19 Case Updates- 1st July 2020

• Total Number of Cases – 26,484
• Total Number Discharged – 10,152
• Total Deaths – 603
• Total Tests Carried out – 138,462

According to the NCDC, the 790 new cases were reported from 21 states- Delta (166), Lagos (120), Enugu (66), FCT (65), Edo (60), Ogun (43), Kano (41), Kaduna (39), Ondo (33), Rivers (32), Bayelsa (29), Katsina (21), Imo (20), Kwara (18), Oyo (11), Abia (10), Benue (6), Gombe (4), Yobe (2), Bauchi (2), Kebbi (2).

Meanwhile, the latest numbers bring Lagos state total confirmed cases to 10,630, followed by Abuja (1,935), Oyo (1,391), Kano (1,257), Edo (1,165), Delta (1,131) Rivers (1,088), Ogun (869),  Kaduna (805), Katsina (578), Gombe (507). Bauchi (505), Borno (493), Ebonyi (438), Plateau (382), Imo (352), Enugu (327), Ondo (325), Abia (320), Jigawa (318).

Kwara state has recorded 235 cases, Bayelsa (234), Nasarawa (213), Sokoto (151), Osun (127), Niger (116), Akwa Ibom (86), Adamawa (84), Kebbi (81), Zamfara (76), Anambra (73), Benue (65), Yobe (61), Ekiti (43), Taraba (19), while Kogi state has recorded 4 cases.

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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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