Coronavirus
COVID-19: Hydroxychloroquine not suitable to treat disease – IDSA
The group recommends treatment with the combination of lopinavir/ritonavir only in the context of a clinical trial.
The Infectious Disease Society of America has warned that hospitals should drop the use of hydroxychloroquine for coronavirus treatment.
This was announced by the Society’s guidelines on COVID-19 treatment published on Friday, which recommends that the drug should be dropped along with other antibiotics like azithromycin.
It corroborates an earlier warning by the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), reported by Nairametrics in June, that it had not authorized the use of Chloroquine for treatment of COVID-19. Director-General of the NCDC, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, while reacting to media reports that suggested that chloroquine could protect people from the coronavirus disease or treat patients that were already infected with the disease, advised against it.
READ: Analysis: Nigeria’s likely cost per treatment for COVID-19
Ihekweazu said, “Nigerians should please remember that the use of chloroquine and its derivatives for the management of COVID-19 disease has not been validated and approved by the World Health Organization (WHO).
“There have been promising results by researchers but until then, the drug is not approved for use for COVID-19 treatment.
“Nigerians should know that self-medication can cause harm and lead to death.”
READ: Covid-19: WHO says not to expect first vaccination until early next year
IDSA’s panel revealed in the report that chances of any benefit related to hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of virus is very unlikely, “even if additional high-quality data would become available.”
The group recommends that people who have been admitted to hospital with COVID-19, be treated with the combination of lopinavir/ritonavir only in the context of a clinical trial.
For patients with severe COVID-19 symptoms, they suggest glucocorticoids rather than no glucocorticoids and remdesivir over no antiviral treatment, while for patients with hypoxemia who need supplemental oxygen, the group advises against the use of glucocorticoids.
Coronavirus
ECOWAS COVID-19: Nigeria drops to 7th position in recovery rate
According to data from ECOWAS Centre for Surveillance and Disease Control, Nigeria has dropped to 7th position in recovery rate.
The ECOWAS COVID-19 daily update report, as of November 22nd, 2020, shows that Nigeria is ranked 7th on recovery rate (93.5%), 10th on death rate (CFR – case fatality ratio) at 1.76%, and 9th on active cases (4.7%) amongst the 15 member countries of the ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States).
This data can be seen on the Twitter handle of the ECOWAS Centre for Surveillance and Disease Control.
COVID19 #ECOWAS DAILY UPDATE for November 22th, 2020. #StaySafe #PreventionActionsKey #Covid19Out #WearYourMask pic.twitter.com/Fh87RRqPWC
— ECOWAS Centre for Surveillance and Disease Control (@Ecowas_cdc) November 23, 2020
A week ago, as of 15th November 2020, Nigeria occupied the 6th position in recovery rate (93.7%), 9th position in CFR (1.79%) and 11th position in active cases (4.5%).
According to the report, there are 209,614 confirmed cases, 2,842 deaths, 189,917 recoveries, and 8,849 active cases in ECOWAS countries. This data represents in Africa, 9.8% of the confirmed cases, 5.7% deaths, 10.9% recovery rate and 3.3% active cases.
As regards the death rate (CFR), Liberia tops the list with 5.29%, followed by Niger 5.12% and Mali 3.41% while Guinea is the least with 0.58%.
On recovery rate, Cote D”Ivoire tops the list with 98.3%, followed by Senegal 97.5% and Ghana 97.1%, with the least coming from Mali with 71.1%.
Mali has more active COVID 19 cases with 25.5%, followed by Sierra Leone 20.9% and Togo 20.9% and with Senegal contributing the least with 0.4%.
What you should know
- As at November 22 2020, worldwide, there are 58,649,324 confirmed cases, 1,388,068 deaths and CFR of 2.3%
- In Africa, there are 2,057,029 confirmed cases, 49,412 deaths and CFR of 2.4%
- In West Africa, there are 201,614 confirmed cases, 2,842 deaths and CFR of 1.41%, with a recovery rate of 94.2%.
Coronavirus
COVID-19: AstraZeneca vaccine could be 90% effective against the virus
AstraZeneca has said that its vaccine being developed in collaboration with the University of Oxford could be 90% effective.
British pharmaceutical company, AstraZeneca, announced that the COVID-19 vaccine it is developing with Oxford University is 90% effective and also prevented 70% of trialists from falling ill.
This was disclosed by AstraZeneca on Monday and reported by Reuters and Bloomberg. AstraZeneca said its vaccine was 90% effective when a half dose was issued, followed by a full dose 30 days later.
AstraZeneca joins other major pharmaceutical companies including Pfizer and Moderna in the race to develop a vaccine for the pandemic.
What they are saying
Oxford University said it could be 70.4% effective and tests on two dose regimes show that it could be is 90%.
The company expects to have up to 200 million doses by the end of the year and produce up to 700 million doses by the first quarter of 2021.
The new vaccine also answers issues of vaccine storage and distribution, as it can be kept at basic refrigerator temperature for transport, making it much easier to transport, compared to Moderna and Pfizer’s vaccines.
What you should know
Nairametrics reported earlier this month that Pfizer Inc disclosed that its experimental vaccine, which is jointly developed with BioNTech was more than 90% effective in preventing COVID-19, based on initial data from a large study, in the ongoing phase 3 trials.
Last week, Pharmaceutical company, Moderna Inc, stated its COVID-19 vaccine is 94.5% effective in treating coronavirus, after preliminary analysis of a large late-stage clinical trial.
Coronavirus
COVID-19: G-20 to extend debt relief to developing nations
The G-20 has endorsed a plan which will enable the freezing of debt obligations to developing nations.
The G-20, in a bid to combat the economic fallouts of the pandemic, has endorsed a plan which will enable the freezing of debt obligations to developing nations till mid-2021.
This was reported by Reuters after the group met over the weekend to discuss vaccine relief and other pressing issues. They also agreed on a common approach to dealing with debt relief.
The G-20 leaders announced in a communique urging private creditors to extend debt relief to nations that are eligible for the initiative.
READ: Africa seeking extra $44 billion to deal with COVID-19 pandemic
What they are saying
The Head of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, urged that the world still runs the risk of falling into another crisis and called for closer cooperation through faster integration of the G-20 Framework. She added that the G-20’s efforts in combating the pandemic have helped soften the economic fallout caused by covid-19.
“The world is not out of the woods yet in terms of this crisis. Cooperation is going to be even more important going forward,” she said.
READ: Nigeria to generate $6 billion through Blockchain by 2030-NITDA
“We must also help those countries not covered by the Framework to address debt vulnerabilities, so that their economies can become more resilient,” she added.
What you should know
Nairametrics reported that the G-20 met earlier this weekend and agreed to announce a pledge to pay for vaccine distribution to developing nations that can’t afford it. The leaders also discussed a debt extension programme to developing nations during the weekend’s G-20 summit.
READ: Largest private investment in Africa begins $15 billion financing
In April 2020, Ministers of Finance from African countries requested debt relief from bilateral, multilateral, and commercial partners to cushion the negative impact of the coronavirus.
(READ MORE: Covid-19: Nigeria to seek $750 million from World Bank- Finance Minister)
Last Month, Nairametrics reported that the total external debt of the least developed countries under the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) has increased by 9.55% to $744 billion in 2019. This was disclosed in the World Bank’s International Debt Statistics 2021.
The global Debt Service Suspension Initiative by rich nations made it eligible for 73 countries to have their debt frozen. However, only 46 countries took part in the initiative, freezing up to 5.7 billion in 2020 debt service payments.
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