Coronavirus

COVID-19: WHO expects a lengthy pandemic that will be felt for decades

The committee expects the COVID-19 to remain a public health emergency of international concern.

Published

6 days ago

August 2, 2020

Chike Olisah

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The Emergency Committee on COVID-19, which was convened by the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Director General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to have a lengthy duration.

A statement that was issued by the Committee on Saturday, which was seen by Nairametrics, also noted that the committee expects the COVID-19 to remain a public health emergency of international concern in the meantime.

The Executive Committee, which convened under the International Health Regulations (2005), expressed its appreciation to the WHO and its partners on COVID-19 response efforts, whilst stressing the importance of sustained community, national, regional, and global response efforts.

Note that the Executive Committee’s unanimous conclusion that the pandemic still constitutes a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), was sent to WHO’s Tedros as a recommendation.

The Committee also advised the WHO to continue to mobilize global and regional multilateral organizations and partners for COVID-19 preparedness and response, in order to support member states in maintaining health services, while accelerating the research and eventual access to diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines.

It also recommended a sustained attack on the virus on all fronts, from testing and contact tracing to developing vaccine treatments

It urged countries to support these various research efforts, including by funding, and to join in efforts to allow equitable allocation of diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines by engaging in the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator among other initiatives.

The committee also advised countries to strengthen public health surveillance for case identification and contact tracing, including in low-resource, vulnerable, or high-risk settings and to maintain essential health services with sufficient funding, supplies, and human resources.

Countries were advised to implement proportionate measures and advice on travel, based on risk assessments, and to review these measures regularly.

While accepting these recommendations, Tedros confirmed that the pandemic still constitutes a PHEIC. He then issued the Committee’s advice to States Parties as Temporary Recommendations under the IHR.

“The pandemic is a once-in-a-century health crisis, the effects of which will be felt for decades to come,” Dr Tedros told the Committee in his opening remarks on Friday. “Many countries that believed they were past the worst are now grappling with new outbreaks. Some that were less affected in the earliest weeks are now seeing escalating numbers of cases and deaths. And some that had large outbreaks have brought them under control.”

A PHEIC, which is the WHO’s highest level of alarm under IHR, was first declared on January 30th at a time when there were fewer than 100 cases and no deaths outside China.

Chike Olisah

Chike Olisah is a graduate of accountancy with over 15 years working experience in the financial service sector. He has worked in research and marketing departments of three top commercial banks. Chike is a senior member of the Nairametrics Editorial Team. You may contact him via his email- [email protected]

1 Comment

Anonymous

August 3, 2020 at 5:21 am

Pls all our leaders consider will people dat we want to travel out of d country since march2020 and all our documents is ready and we have pay for our flight, visa everything since they nw we are suffering and we have kids and we have sell all our properity even some borrow lapo for us to eat nw is had pls open international airport

Reply

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Coronavirus

COVID-19 Update in Nigeria

On the 7th of August 2020, 443 new confirmed cases and 6 deaths were recorded in Nigeria.

Published

35 mins ago

August 8, 2020

Samuel Oyekanmi

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 45,687 confirmed cases.

On the 7th of August 2020, 443 new confirmed cases and 6 deaths were recorded in Nigeria, having carried out a total daily test of 3,835 samples across the country.

To date, 45,687 cases have been confirmed, 32,637 cases have been discharged and 936 deaths have been recorded in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. A total of 310,729 tests have been carried out as of August 7th, 2020 compared to 306,894 tests a day earlier.

COVID-19 Case Updates- 7th August 2020,

Total Number of Cases – 45,687
Total Number Discharged – 32,637
Total Deaths – 936
Total Tests Carried out – 310,729

According to the NCDC, the 443 new cases were reported from 19 states- Plateau (103), Lagos (70), FCT (60), Ondo (35), Edo (27), Rivers (27), Kaduna (20), Osun (19), Borno (18), Oyo (18), Kwara (11), Adamawa (9), Nasarawa (7), Gombe (6), Bayelsa (4), Imo (4), Bauchi (2), Ogun (2) and Kano (1).

Meanwhile, the latest numbers bring Lagos state total confirmed cases to 15,697, followed by Abuja (4,301), Oyo (2,843), Edo (2,367), Rivers (1,938), Kano (1,609), Delta (1,557), Kaduna (1,550), Ogun (1,430), Plateau (1,397), Ondo (1,278), Enugu (880), Ebonyi (838), Kwara (826), Katsina (746), Borno (652), Gombe (626), Abia (625), Osun (605), and Bauchi (576).

Imo State has recorded 476 cases, Nasarawa (367), Benue (356), Bayelsa (346), Jigawa (322), Akwa Ibom (234), Niger (226), Adamawa (185), Ekiti (159), Sokoto (154), Anambra (142), Kebbi (90), Zamfara (77), Taraba (72), Cross River (68), Yobe (67), while Kogi state has recorded 5 cases only.

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. Also, on Monday 27th July 2020, the federal government extended the second phase of eased lockdown by an additional one week.

On Thursday, 6th August 2020 the federal government through the secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and Chairman of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 announced the extension of the second phase of eased lockdown by another four (4) weeks.

Date	Confirmed case	New cases	Total deaths	New deaths	Total recovery	Active cases	Critical cases
August 7, 2020	45687	443	936	6	32637	12114	7
August 6, 2020	45244	354	930	3	32430	11884	7
August 5, 2020	44890	457	927	17	32165	11798	7
August 4, 2020	44433	304	910	14	31851	11672	7
August 3, 2020	44129	288	896	8	20663	22570	7
August 2, 2020	43841	304	888	5	20308	22645	7
August 1, 2020	43537	386	883	4	20287	22567	7
July 31, 2020	43151	462	879	1	19565	22707	7
July 30, 2020	42689	481	878	5	19270	22541	7
July 29, 2020	42208	404	873	5	19004	22331	7
July 28, 2020	41804	624	868	8	18764	22172	7
July 27, 2020	41180	648	860	2	18203	22117	7
July 26, 2020	40532	555	858	2	17374	22300	7
July 25, 2020	39977	438	856	11	16948	22173	7
July 24, 2020	39539	591	845	12	16559	22135	7
July 23, 2020	38948	604	833	20	16061	22054	7
July 22, 2020	38344	543	813	8	15815	21716	7
July 21, 2020	37801	576	805	4	15677	21319	7
July 20, 2020	37225	562	801	12	15333	21091	7
July 19, 2020	36663	556	789	11	15105	20769	7
July 18, 2020	36107	653	778	6	14938	20391	7
July 17, 2020	35454	600	772	3	14633	20049	7
July 16, 2020	34854	595	769	9	14292	19793	7
July 15, 2020	34259	643	760	6	13999	19500	7
July 14, 2020	33616	463	754	10	13792	19070	7
July 13, 2020	33153	595	744	4	13671	18738	7
July 12, 2020	32558	571	740	16	13447	18371	7
July 11, 2020	31987	664	724	15	13103	18160	7
July 10, 2020	31323	575	709	20	12795	17819	7
July 9, 2020	30748	499	689	5	12546	17513	7
July 8, 2020	30249	460	684	15	12373	17192	7
July 7, 2020	29789	503	669	15	12108	17012	7
July 6, 2020	29286	575	654	9	11828	16804	7
July 5, 2020	28711	544	645	11	11665	16401	7
July 4, 2020	28167	603	634	6	11462	16071	7
July 3, 2020	27564	454	628	12	11069	15867	7
July 2, 2020	27110	626	616	13	10801	15693	7
July 1, 2020	26484	790	603	13	10152	15729	7
June 30, 2020	25694	561	590	17	9746	15358	7
June 29, 2020	25133	566	573	8	9402	15158	7
June 28, 2020	24867	490	565	7	9007	14995	7
June 27, 2020	24077	779	558	4	8625	14894	7
June 26, 2020	23298	684	554	5	8253	14491	7
June 25, 2020	22614	594	549	7	7822	14243	7
June 24, 2020	22020	649	542	9	7613	13865	7
June 23, 2020	21371	452	533	8	7338	13500	7
June 22, 2020	20919	675	525	7	7109	13285	7
June 21, 2020	20242	436	518	12	6879	12847	7
June 20, 2020	19808	661	506	19	6718	12584	7
June 19, 2020	19147	667	487	12	6581	12079	7
June 18, 2020	18480	745	475	6	6307	11698	7
June 17, 2020	17735	587	469	14	5967	11299	7
June 16, 2020	17148	490	455	31	5623	11070	7
June 15, 2020	16658	573	424	4	5349	10885	7
June 14, 2020	16085	403	420	13	5220	10445	7
June 13, 2020	15682	501	407	8	5101	10174	7
June 12, 2020	15181	627	399	12	4891	9891	7
June 11, 2020	14554	681	387	5	4494	9673	7
June 10, 2020	13873	409	382	17	4351	9140	7
June 9, 2020	13464	663	365	4	4206	8893	7
June 8, 2020	12801	315	361	7	4040	8400	7
June 7, 2020	12486	260	354	12	3959	8173	7
June 6, 2020	12233	389	342	9	3826	8065	7
June 5, 2020	11844	328	333	10	3696	7815	7
June 4, 2020	11516	350	323	8	3535	7646	7
June 3, 2020	11166	348	315	1	3329	7522	7
June 2, 2020	10819	241	314	15	3239	7266	7
June 1, 2020	10578	416	299	12	3122	7157	9
May 31, 2020	10162	307	287	14	3007	6868	7
May 30, 2020	9855	553	273	12	2856	6726	7
May 29, 2020	9302	387	261	2	2697	6344	7
May 28, 2020	8915	182	259	5	2592	6064	7
May 27, 2020	8733	389	254	5	2501	5978	7
May 26, 2020	8344	276	249	16	2385	5710	7
May 25, 2020	8068	229	233	7	2311	5524	7
May 24, 2020	7839	313	226	5	2263	5360	7
May 23, 2020	7526	265	221	0	2174	5131	7
May 22, 2020	7261	245	221	10	2007	5033	7
May 21, 2020	7016	339	211	11	1907	4898	7
May 20, 2020	6677	284	200	8	1840	4637	7
May 19, 2020	6401	226	192	1	1734	4475	7
May 18, 2020	6175	216	191	9	1644	4340	7
May 17, 2020	5959	388	182	6	1594	4183	7
May 16, 2020	5621	176	176	5	1472	3973	7
May 15, 2020	5445	288	171	3	1320	3954	4
May 14, 2020	5162	193	168	3	1180	3815	4
May 13, 2020	4971	184	164	6	1070	3737	4
May 12, 2020	4787	146	158	6	959	3670	4
May 11, 2020	4641	242	152	10	902	3589	4
May 10, 2020	4399	248	142	17	778	3479	4
May 9, 2020	4151	239	127	11	745	3278	4
May 8, 2020	3912	386	118	10	679	3115	4
May 7, 2020	3526	381	108	4	601	2818	4
May 6, 2020	3145	195	104	5	534	2507	1
May 5, 2020	2950	148	99	5	481	2370	4
May 4, 2020	2802	245	94	6	417	2291	2
May 3, 2020	2558	170	88	2	400	2070	2
May 2, 2020	2388	220	86	17	351	1952	2
May 1, 2020	2170	238	69	10	351	1751	2
April 30, 2020	1932	204	59	7	317	1556	2
April 29, 2020	1728	196	52	7	307	1369	2
April 28, 2020	1532	195	45	4	255	1232	2
April 27, 2020	1337	64	41	0	255	994	2
April 26, 2020	1273	91	41	5	239	994	2
April 25, 2020	1182	87	36	3	222	925	2
April 24, 2020	1095	114	33	1	208	855	2
April 23, 2020	981	108	32	3	197	753	2
April 22, 2020	873	91	29	3	197	648	2
April 21, 2020	782	117	26	3	197	560	2
April 20, 2020	665	38	23	1	188	466	2
April 19, 2020	627	86	22	2	170	436	2
April 18, 2020	541	48	20	2	166	356	2
April 17, 2020	493	51	18	4	159	317	2
April 16, 2020	442	35	13	1	152	277	2
April 15, 2020	407	34	12	1	128	267	2
April 14, 2020	373	30	11	1	99	263	2
April 13, 2020	343	20	10	0	91	242	2
April 12, 2020	323	5	10	0	85	228	2
April 11, 2020	318	13	10	3	70	238	2
April 10, 2020	305	17	7	0	58	240	2
April 9, 2020	288	14	7	1	51	230	2
April 8, 2020	274	22	6	0	44	226	2
April 7, 2020	254	16	6	1	44	204	2
April 6, 2020	238	6	5	0	35	198	2
April 5, 2020	232	18	5	1	33	194	2
April 4, 2020	214	5	4	0	25	185	0
April 3, 2020	209	25	4	2	25	180	0
April 2, 2020	184	10	2	0	20	162	0
April 1, 2020	174	35	2	0	9	163	0
March 31, 2020	139	8	2	0	9	128	0
March 30, 2020	131	20	2	1	8	121	0
March 29, 2020	111	22	1	0	3	107	0
March 28, 2020	89	19	1	0	3	85	0
March 27, 2020	70	5	1	0	3	66	0
March 26, 2020	65	14	1	0	2	62	0
March 25, 2020	51	7	1	0	2	48	0
March 24, 2020	44	4	1	0	2	41	0
March 23, 2020	40	10	1	1	2	37	0
March 22, 2020	30	8	0	0	2	28	0
March 21, 2020	22	10	0	0	1	21	0
March 20, 2020	12	4	0	0	1	11	0
March 19, 2020	8	0	0	0	1	7	0
March 18, 2020	8	5	0	0	1	7	0
March 17, 2020	3	1	0	0	0	3	0
March 16, 2020	2	0	0	0	0	2	0
March 15, 2020	2	0	0	0	0	2	0
March 14, 2020	2	0	0	0	0	2	0
March 13, 2020	2	0	0	0	0	2	0
March 12, 2020	2	0	0	0	0	2	0
March 11, 2020	2	0	0	0	0	2	0
March 10, 2020	2	0	0	0	0	2	0
March 9, 2020	2	1	0	0	0	2	0
March 8, 2020	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
March 7, 2020	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
March 6, 2020	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
March 5, 2020	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
March 4, 2020	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
March 3, 2020	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
March 2, 2020	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
March 1, 2020	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
February 29, 2020	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
February 28, 2020	1	1	0	0	0	1	0

Coronavirus

Lagos sets up committee to monitor worship centres compliance to COVID-19 protocols

To ensure compliance to COVID-19 protocols, the Lagos government has set up a committee.

Published

3 hours ago

August 7, 2020

Abiola Odutola

Lagos SEC meeting goes virtual as full lockdown commences, Partial lockdown guidelines for businesses from May 4

Lagos state government has constituted a Monitoring and Compliance Committee to ensure worship centres comply with the COVID-19 protocols, as they open for services.

This was disclosed by the Commissioner for Home Affairs, Prince Anofiu Elegushi on Friday, via the state government’s Twitter handle.

Sequel to the announcement on the re-opening of worship centres in Lagos State by Gov.@jidesanwoolu, the Ministry of Home Affairs has constituted a Monitoring and Compliance Committee on COVID-19 Protocols for Worship Centres in Lagos State.#LASG #ForAGreaterLagos pic.twitter.com/YjvSnfuXmP

— The Lagos State Govt (@followlasg) August 7, 2020

Back story: A few days ago, Nairametrics reported when the state government introduced some measures and conditions that must be met/fulfiled by all religious centres and places of worships that are planning to reopen, following further relaxation of lockdown.

Some of the measures are:

* Only regular services/gatherings are permitted to hold. Night vigils and other non-regular programmes remain prohibited until further notice.

* Attendees above 65 years are strongly discouraged from attending worship services.

* Consider holding services and gatherings in large, well-ventilated areas or outdoors, as circumstances and faith tradition allow.

* No face mask, no entry policy, must be maintained throughout the duration of the services.

* Regular cleaning and disinfection of facilities must be carried out to maintain clean and hygienic environments before and after every service.

Meanwhile, Prince Elegushi explained that the State Government is satisfied with the readiness of religious leaders
to observe the criteria on protocols for the re-opening of worship centres in the State.

He noted that the partial re-opening of Churches and Mosques is a pilot scheme that is predicated on the strict observance of protocols of monitoring, compliance and enforcement of COVID-19 guidelines by worship centres.

Business

Update: FG extends second phase of eased lockdown by another 4 weeks

This is the third time the second phase of the eased lockdown is being extended.

Published

1 day ago

August 6, 2020

Chike Olisah

President Buhari may sign 2020 Budget tomorrow, President Buhari approves N37 billion for National Assembly renovation, President Buhari appoints Sarki Auwalu to head DPR , FG may stop interstate and inter-town travels, COVID-19: President salutes Elumelu, Dangote, Atiku, Banks, others for support, Naira export earnings, Covid-19: FG to set up N500 billion intervention fund, sovereign wealth, FG issues guidelines on implementation of gradual easing of lockdown nationwide

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the extension of the second phase of eased lockdown by another 4 weeks.

According to a monitored media report, this is the third time the second phase of the eased lockdown which is currently observed across the country is being extended

The disclosure was made by Boss Mustapha, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and Chairman of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, during the Task Force briefing in Abuja on Thursday.

The Federal Government had on July 27 extended the current lockdown by an additional one week due to the Sallah celebration on July 29.

Mustapha disclosed that the extension followed the briefing and recommendation to President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday on the progress made so far by Presidential Task Force in containing the spread of Covid-19 and keeping citizens safe from contracting the virus.

The PTF Chairman noted that they made a couple of recommendations to the president and the extension of the current phase of ease of lockdown was one of the ones approved.

He revealed that in the recommendation that was made to the president about retaining the current phase of the lockdown, the PTF made some minor changes to address the economic, socio-political concerns of Nigerians.

Under the current extended second phase, the current curfew of 10 pm to 4 am is still in force, civil servants on grade level 12 and above are now to resume work fully and close by 4 pm and no longer 2 pm that currently operates. He, however, said that virtual meetings by government officials and parastatals will be maintained.

He also said that while the restrictions on recreational parks have been lifted for non-contact physical activities, the ban on entertainment centres will be sustained.

Mustapha explained that despite the accomplishments and challenges, some challenges continue to pose a considerable concern. Some of them include increased non-compliance with non-pharmaceutical prevention measures, lack of enforcement of necessary guidelines issued to preserve lives, insufficient engagement by some states with the national response, and lingering concern about the gap between identified cases and the actual burden of disease.

He also talked about apathy, fatigue and disbelief combining to challenge public enlightenment, compliance and behaviour change.

The SGF said that to address these challenges, the PTF decided that it was important to ensure that restrictions were not completely relaxed in order to control transmission.

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He noted that it was also important that at this Community Transmission Phase of the pandemic, sub-national governments should step up to take more responsibilities by owning the response.

The various state authorities and the Federal Capital Territory were mandated to enforce non=pharmaceutical guidelines, the use of face masks in public appearances and places.