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 27,564 confirmed cases.

On the 3rd of July 2020, 454 new confirmed cases and 12 deaths were recorded in Nigeria, having carried out a total daily test of 3,308 samples across the country.

To date, 27,564 cases have been confirmed, 11,069 cases have been discharged and 628 deaths have been recorded in 18 states and the Federal Capital Territory. A total of 144,833 tests have been carried out as of July 3rd, 2020 compared to 141,525 tests a day earlier.

COVID-19 Case Updates- 3rd July 2020

• Total Number of Cases – 27,564
• Total Number Discharged – 11,069
• Total Deaths – 628
• Total Tests Carried out – 144,833

According to the NCDC, the 454 new cases were reported from 19 states- Lagos (87), Edo (63), Abuja (60), Ondo (41), Benue (32), Abia (31), Ogun (29), Oyo (19), Kaduna (17), Delta (16), Enugu (15), Borno (14), Plateau (9), Nasarawa (8), Kano (5), Bauchi (2), Gombe (2), Katsina and Kogi 1 case each.

Meanwhile, the latest numbers bring Lagos state total confirmed cases to 10,910, followed by Abuja (2,080), Oyo (1,451), Edo (1,266), Kano (1,262), Delta (1,165) Rivers (1,114), Ogun (927),  Kaduna (835), Katsina (579), Bauchi (516), Borno (515), Gombe (513), Ebonyi (438), Plateau (402), Ondo (394), Abia (382), Enugu (357), Imo (352), Jigawa (318).

Kwara state has recorded 269 cases, Bayelsa (234), Nasarawa (221), Sokoto (152), Osun (148), Niger (116), Akwa Ibom (104), Benue (97), Adamawa (89), Kebbi (81), Zamfara (76), Anambra (73), Yobe (61), Ekiti (43), Taraba (19), while Kogi state has recorded 5 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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The Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu has announced that both public and private schools will resume on August 3, 2020, after over 3 months of being shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic.

This is in line with the recent pronouncement by the Federal Government,

This was disclosed by the Governor while giving a situation report on COVID-19 at Lagos House Marina on July 3, 2020.

The governor said that the resumption is only for pupils and students in graduating classes, that is Primary 6, JSS 3, and SSS 3 who are preparing for exams.

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He said other schools will remain closed and should continue with the online studies.

He said that pupils in primary schools and junior secondary schools 3 students will resume school a week or 2 weeks after the senior secondary school 3 students would have resumed. The governor also added that this only applies to day schools for both public and private as boarding schools will remain shut.

According to the Governor, ‘’Tertiary institutions will remain closed. We continue to support online teaching during this period. However, students in the transitional classes who have mandatory public examinations ahead of them will be permitted to resume for revision classes and examinations. The commencement date for this will be from Monday, August 3^rd.’’

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‘’All educational establishments are to follow the guidelines for the reopening. We just finished a very serious meeting with stakeholders in the educational sector for the reopening. SS3 and Tech 3 students are to start, for JSS3 and primary 6, they will wait for about a week or 2 before resumption.’’

‘’The permitted opening will be for only day schooling. No boarding activities are permitted during this time. School authorities are expected to prepare well from now till August 3’’

It can be recalled that the federal government had on Monday, June 29, 2020, announced that pupils and students in graduating classes were free to reopen while also maintaining the safety measures that had been outlined by the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is currently in negotiations to purchase the steroid-dexamethasone  – for 4.5 million coronavirus infected patients in low and middle-income countries.

According to a report from Reuters, the advance purchase will be made under a deal negotiation led by UNITAID and Wellcome.

According to a joint statement from both agencies, the deal is part of the World Health Organization (WHO)’s plan to accelerate access to therapeutics in the battle against the global pandemic.

“With this advanced purchase we aim to ensure equitable access for low- and middle-income countries for the treatment of COVID-19 with the life-saving drug dexamethasone, and avoid shortages resulting from high levels of demand from other parts of the world,” said Philippe Duneton, acting executive director of UNITAID said in the statement.

The initial purchase will be made for up to 4.5 million people in low and middle-income countries, the agencies said on Friday.

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The steroid dexamethasone, originally a corticosteroid medication used in the treatment of conditions such as asthma, inflammatory disorders and certain cancers, was discovered to be effective in treating severe or critical COVID-19 patients on ventilators, following clinical trials in the United Kingdom.

Earlier in June, Nigeria’s Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire had called on frontline clinicians to consider the use of dexamethasone in the treatment of COVID-19 across the country.

Speaking during one of the daily briefings by the Task Force on COVID-19, Ehanire noted that the drug had been in use since the 1960s and its side effects are well known to medical practitioners

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“Luckily, this medicine is not new. It is a well-known steroid that is used for other purposes but was found to be useful in this case (treatment of COVID-19). So it is easy to try it out because we already know its side effects. It is not a product that will get you worried about its possible side effects.

“So we are going to ask our clinician to also consider adding it to their trials and see what result it brings in our circumstances,” he said in the briefing, acknowledging the results from the UK clinical trials.

The World Health Organisation also welcomed the results of the initial clinical trial results from the United Kingdom showing that dexamethasone could be lifesaving for patients who are critically ill with COVID-19 and for patients on ventilators.