Bayelsa has recorded 13 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of infections in the state to 282.
Dr Jones Stowe, the state Director of Public Health and member of COVID-19 Task Force who gave the update in a statement in Yenagoa, said the state also recorded one additional COVID-19 related death.
Stowe explained that the new case brought the total number of COVID deaths in the state to 17.
“On the total number of confirmed infections, we have 282 but right now, we have 124 active cases in our isolation centres at Niger-Delta University Teaching Hospital and Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Yenagoa.
“On Wednesday, we recorded 13 new confirmed infections, one new fatality, total deaths now, 17. Four new persons were also discharged, making 141 discharged cases so far in the state.
“All the positive cases are being reached and counselled for evacuation to our isolation facilities.
“All their contacts are being line listed and adequately followed up including necessary environmental decontamination.
“Samples have and are still being collected from their high -risk contacts while they have all been counselled on self-quarantine. Risk communication and community engagement are ongoing.
“We should always adhere strictly to the recommended public health advisories to reduce the transmission of COVID- 19.
“Maintain regular washing of hand with soap and water and use alcohol-based hand sanitiser. Use your facemask, avoid hand shake and crowd,” Stowe said.
Super Eagles striker, Paul Onuachu, has contracted the deadly Coronavirus (COVID-19).
The player tested positive for coronavirus on Wednesday, while the result of his mates, Stephen Odey and Cyril Dessers at Belgian club Genk, came out negative.
“In the run-up to the first exhibition game of the season, the entire Genk group was tested yesterday (Tuesday),” a report on Belgian website hln.be stated, adding that: “Everyone tested negative except Onuachu.”
The 26-year-old Nigeria international left Belgium for Nigeria on May 27, alongside fellow Eagles strikers Victor Osimhen and Imoh Ezekiel.
He returned to his club on June 28 after he was stranded for a week in Lagos due to travel restrictions caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Meanwhile, the Super Eagles striker becomes the second Nigerian footballer to contract Coronavirus after Akpan Udoh, the first footballer to be infected, in February 2020.
Delta Government on Wednesday warned that it would no longer tolerate violation of the rules meant to stem the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in the state.
Mr Charles Aniagwu, the state Commissioner for Information, gave the warning while briefing journalists in Asaba on the decisions reached at the state Executive Council virtual meeting on Tuesday.
He said that government had decided to set up a taskforce and mobile courts to enforce strict compliance with COVID-19 rules to contain the spread of the virus in the state.
Aniagwu, who earlier tested positive for coronavirus but was discharged on Tuesday, lamented the alarming rate of spread of the virus and the rising number of confirmed cases in Delta.
The commissioner noted that no fewer than 25 persons had died of COVID-19-related illnesses in the state while the confirmed cases had overshot 1,200.
He said that hotels, markets, bars, tricycle riders, bus drivers, churches and mosques that violated the protocols as outlined by the Nigeria Center for Disease Controls (NCDC), would be prosecuted.
“We have also review a number of activities that we embarked on with respect to the enforcement of COVID-19 protocols, and it became evident that we are going to take some other concrete measures.
“A taskforce will be put in place to check places like hotels, bars and supermarkets, among others. Anyone that fails to observe the protocols can be sealed indefinitely.
“We are also going to ensure that tricycle, taxis and bus operators adhere to the instructions to carry only the stipulated number of passengers.
“We also insist that individuals who fail to wear their face masks properly in public places, will be apprehended and arraigned before the mobile court.
“Beyond that, religious bodies should run in such a way that they will not jeopardise the interest of all of us,” he said.
Aniagwu said that despite the pandemic, the state government was committed to boosting the economy through jobs creation as well as road and drain construction, among other projects and programmes.
“The first family – the governor, his wife and daughter – are doing very well.
“In no distance time the governor and his family will return to direct the affairs of government, even though he is still directing the affairs of government from isolation.
“I am in touch with the governor and he is in a very high spirit as he has given directives that will ensure that all the ongoing projects in the state will continue to run,” he said.
It would be recalled that Okowa, his wife Edith and their daughter as well as the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Mr Chiedu Ebie, had tested positive for COVID-19
The commissioner stressed that the virus was real and that those who compared it with malaria should have a rethink and urged the people to go for test for the virus as testing positive was no death sentence.
“We must try to address this prejudices. Many prominent Nigeria have died and some people are saying that it is a fluke and money making. How much will anybody pay somebody to die?
“It is our desire to flatten the curve of COVID-19 in the state,” the commissioner added.
He cautioned the people to adhere to all the protocols such as avoiding crowded places, observing regular hand washing and using sensitiser, to contain the spread of the pandemic and save lives.
The novel coronavirus has existed worldwide and broke out whenever and wherever favourable conditions occurred rather than starting in China, an Oxford University expert said.
Dr Tom Jefferson, Senior Associate Tutor at the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine (CEBM) at Oxford and a visiting professor at Newcastle University said.
“I think the virus was already here; here meaning everywhere.
“We may be seeing a dormant virus that has been activated by environmental conditions,’’ said.
“There was a case in the Falkland Islands in early February. Now, where did that come from?
“There was a cruise ship that went from South Georgia to Buenos Aires and the passengers were screened and then on day eight, when they started sailing towards the Weddell Sea, they got the first case.
“Was it in prepared food that was defrosted and activated?’’ he said.
“Strange things like this happened with Spanish Flu.
“In 1918, around 30 per cent of the population of Western Samoa died of Spanish flu and they hadn’t had any communication with the outside world.’’
“The explanation for this could only be that these agents don’t come or go anywhere.
“They are always here and something ignites them, maybe human density or environmental conditions and this is what we should be looking for,’’ Jefferson said.
He argued there was growing evidence that the virus was elsewhere before it emerged in Asia.
Last week, Spanish virologists announced the discovery of traces of the novel coronavirus in a sample of Barcelona wastewater collected in March 2019, nine months before COVID-19 was identified in China.
The Italian National Institute of Health said in June that sewage water from Milan and Turin showed coronavirus traces on Dec. 18, long before the country’s first confirmed cases.
Celebrated Egyptian actress Ragaa al-Gedawi died aged 81 on Sunday in a quarantine hospital weeks after testing positive for the new coronavirus, state media reported.
In late May, al-Gedawi, a former model, was transferred to a hospital in the coastal city of Ismailia, north east of Cairo, after displaying symptoms of the virus.
She was quarantined in the hospital until her death early Sunday, the online edition of state-owned newspaper al-Ahram reported.
Several days ago al-Gedawi was placed on a ventilator at an intensive care unit in the hospital due to her old age and her deteriorating health.
Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous country of nearly 100 million people, recently loosened virus-related restrictions to boost its economy.
Health authorities have so far reported a total of 74,035 virus cases and 3,280 related deaths.
….citizens insist El-Rufai must probe officials in charge of food Palliatives
…Civil servants lament contributions of N374,450,000 from salary
…Publish what you spent on Covid-19 prevention and management now, CSOs tell El-Rufai, other governors
By Emmanuel Bagudu
Predictions and prophecies by anti-corruption activists that the Covid-19 pandemic will be a fertile ground for aggravated corruption in Nigeria are already coming to pass. Corruption becomes inevitable in the Covid-19 era due to the scarcity of resources as well as disrupted supply chains of those resources caused by the painful but necessary quarantine laws also referred to as lockdown.
At the receiving end are petty traders whose means of livelihoods are largely dependent on daily income. Government at national and sub-national levels amass funds to fight the dreaded pandemic as well as make life easy for its citizens by providing palliatives in the form of either cash or kind. But the oliver-twist-like greed of some politicians and government administrators couldn’t allow them to resist temptation- the urge to steal and divert resources meant to reduce the pains citizens faced in the lockdown.
Here in Nigeria, among the citizens that suffered from these pains of syphoning of resources are Citizens of Kaduna State. With over N600 million generated funds from deducted salaries of civil servants, political office holders and donations from private companies, one will think the Kaduna State government has successfully tamed the pains of most of its vulnerable citizens during the seventy-five days lockdown in the state. But this was not so. This piece therefore explores and make bare the traces of corruption in the management of the so far over N600 million Covid-19 funds generated by Kaduna State during its seventy-five days Lockdown.
Instances of corruption in the Kaduna Covid-19 war are visible in the distribution of food Palliatives and the Non-disclosure of spendings on Covid-19 prevention and management.
Investigations show that the two phases of the food Palliatives distribution in the state which took place in April and May respectively were all marred by politicians and government officials.
Reports monitored by Thenewsguru. com (TNG) coming from members of civil societies as well as testimonies from a good number of citizens confirmed the failure of the state government in food Palliatives distribution.
This Investigation covered areas like Kakuri, Tirkaniya, Television Market, Ungwan Ma’azu (Kaduna South), Television Village, Television Garage, Nassarawa and Romi in the state Capital, Kaduna. TNG investigations also x-rayed outside the state capital where Citizens from Zaria, Soba, Saminaka, Zonkwa, Kafanchan and Kwoi where eligible citizens for the food Palliatives gave their story. All these areas apart from one person in Nassarawa community in Kaduna had respondents expressing bitterness on video recording interviews over the corruptions citizens witnessed during the food Palliatives distribution.
N500 Million was the cost of the entire food Palliatives in the state where eligible families captured in the social register are to be given at least food packs worth N11,000 each according to the state government. But the exercise didn’t happen that way. A lot of diversions took place. The register wasn’t used. “….it was a thug of war, in my area, there was suppose to be armed security men monitoring the strict regulations of sharing these palliatives, but no, officials just came and select who they liked and give what they like, people only got food in pieces not in packs as the government arranged….” Auwal Mohammed, a resident of Kakuri community in Kaduna stated in an interview. Mohammed also disclosed that he witnessed the sharing of the palliatives where he noticed that most people qualified for it were denied.
Hauwa Abdullahi a 53-year-old mother of three in Kakuri is among the supposed beneficiaries of the food palliatives. Her survival and that of her three kids depends largely on begging for alms. On several occasions, Hauwa finds herself in trouble with the Kaduna State Rehabilitation Board who are enforcing the ban on street begging laws created by Governor Nasir Elrufai. With the emergence of Covid-19 and its prevention strategies by the state government, Hauwa and her likes are in a double whammy; no begging for alms, no movement and more heart aching, no jobs because of the lockdown. Food Palliatives now remains the only option of survival for Hauwa. On hearing the announcement in April by the Kaduna government that food Palliatives will be distributed to reduce the sufferings of poor persons in the state during the Lockdown, Hauwa was very happy. But her happiness didn’t last because she didn’t get the food items. “…. I was asked to come out and join the line…. But the food didn’t get to me….” Hauwa said in the Hausa language. She was embittered. “Wanda Suka ci Suka koshi Suka yi amai, su aka ba, ba muba….” Hauwa added in Hausa, meaning, “only those who have eaten enough and have vomited, got the food Palliatives, not us”.
From Kakuri to Barnawa, to Ungwan Ma’azu, Television Village, Tirkaniya, Romi, and other towns in the outskirts of Kaduna metropolis, the story is the same. The Injustice in the sharing of food Palliatives was very conspicuous. Mr. Jude Okoh, a truck driver who was given the food Palliatives to take to Barnawa and Television Village narrated how officials diverted the food items in their favour. In his words, “…. I am among the people that carried the food Palliatives for Barnawa here… my brother it was war….one woman before my presence, right in front of me without shame came with Siena bus and load more than thirty(30) Cartons of different food items, she was even fighting with those civilian JTF who were there to maintain law and order….” Okoh said. Mr Okoh also narrated how he was instructed to pick some of the food items and deliver to Churches without the protection of security personnel. “….we carried some of the foodstuffs, dropped in ECWA church, Television Village, in Anglican Church, and in some other churches. The next day we returned to witness the sharing …some women only got one (1) cup of rice. Some stayed the whole day on the queue but saw nothing” Okoh said.
For his part, Malam Hamza a popular shoe seller in Television Market, said it was a pathetic situation. “It’s not that I was told, no, I witnessed the sharing of the palliatives in my area, two in every ten vulnerable persons did not get the palliatives …. I saw someone being given three (3) pieces of noodles, (not carton), another was given two (2) pieces, I saw a group of five persons given one (1) carton of noodles to share…. I even went to other places where the palliatives are shared, I saw over two hundred persons, but the food that was brought to the place can only serve three persons…. how will two hundred persons jostle for food meant for only three persons….” Hamza said while speaking in Hausa.
Communities outside the State Capital witnessed the second phase of Palliatives Distribution. Although the Secretary to the Kaduna State government Balarabe Lawal stated that there was no rancour in the second phase, officials still diverted the food items. In Soba, residents express gratitude to the government but reported acts of Injustice by officials. “It was a party affair, if you are not from their Party, you will not get the food Palliatives….” Mairo Inuwa a food vendor in Soba said in an interview. Residents of Saminaka, Zonkwa, Kafanchan and Kwoi made the same complain. “The palliatives showed the government have the people in mind, but some corrupt officials will not let people eat….” Mr Gaius Manzo a civil servant in Kafanchan said in an interview. Mr. Manzo said civil servants in the state are not happy seeing that the 25% deduction of their salaries is being played with. “….you will recall that we contributed over N300 million to this war against Covid-19 when they government said it will deduct 25% of our salary for the months of April and May…but look at how some politicians are busy diverting the food Palliatives, the governor and the SSG (referring to Secretary to the state government) should please probe these Palliatives Distributors to avoid future occurrence….” Manzo said.
Another glaring instance of corruption in the management of Covid-19 funds in Kaduna is the Non-disclosure of spendings for the pandemic. Those that Contributed over N600 million Naira for the war against Covid-19 deserve to know what the money is used for. Questions need to be asked. Government openness and Transparency must come to play and Kaduna State being the pioneer of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) in Nigeria should not in any way be found wanting in area of openness. Only N500 million for food Palliatives was disclosed. Citizens deserve to know the cost of testing, and maintenance of Isolation centres. Nondisclosure of spending these funds is termed as corruption as declared by the Federal Government’ framework for managing Covid-19 Funds (FMIC). Paragraph two of the objectives of the FMIC states that the “…Framework is… designed to articulate the measures put in place by Government for the transparent and accountable management of COVID-19 Donor Funds as an expression of its commitment towards bridging the trust gap.”
Though the Framework is designed by the Federal Government, the government of Kaduna State which signed to the OGP should see this framework as a way of meeting its obligation as an OGP compliant state. On transparency, the framework states that “…..Failure to publish timely report of COVID-19 activities in the prescribed format and at the stipulated intervals or to respond to FOI request will constitute early warning signs of mismanagement….”
Once Kaduna government key into the FMIC like the way it started the OGP, it will sustain its reputation. Kaduna has about three testing centres presently; the DNA laboratory, Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital Zaria, and a new community testing vehicle.
TNG also gathered that the Infectious disease control centre (IDCC) Kakuri which has been upgraded to an isolation centre also conduct Covid-19 tests.
Apart from the IDCC Kakuri, Hamdala motel is another isolation centre while the Barrau Dikko Teaching Hospital also has an isolation unit.
Recall that all Federal Stadia were to be used as isolation centre and Ahmadu Bello Stadium Kaduna was to be used as isolation centre but nothing of such is happening there.
It would also be recalled that the first set of covid 19 positive patients in Kaduna State with the Governor Malam Nasir el-Rufai being the index case were all attended to by health workers in an undisclosed private facility except for the governor who disclosed that he was being attended to in an arm of the government house by health workers. The IDCC is equipped with ventilators but no one knows whether the other isolation centre at Hamdala motel has ventilators, it is not impossible however following reports of ventilators donation to the state government recently.
The extent to which the isolation centres are equipped and amount spent on such is also not disclosed.
Conclusion:
Advocacies by the Civil Society Communities on asking questions about Covid-19 spending must be taken serious. Two civil societies in Nigeria; “Budgit” and “Socio-economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP)” have been calling on government at national and sub-national (state) level to desist from the habit of non-disclosure of spendings. Budgit sometimes in the end of June disclosed in their Twitter handle that “so far only Oyo State has disclosed how much it spent on Covid-19” and by July 3; just few days later Kwara state released how much it spent on Covid-19 too. For SERAP, it’s a daily routine. They seek explanation on all funds spent. This kind of advocacies is the way forward. Nigerians must keep asking these questions until they get very good and well comprehensive answers.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says it has discontinued the use of hydroxychloroquine and lopinavir/ritonavir in its global trial for treatment of COVID-19 as recommended by the Solidarity Trial’s International Steering Committee.
The UN health agency, in a statement posted on its website, stated that the Solidarity Trial was established by WHO to find an effective COVID-19 treatment for hospitalised patients.
“The committee formulated the recommendation in light of the evidence for hydroxychloroquine vs standard-of-care and for lopinavir/ritonavir vs standard-of-care from the Solidarity trial interim results.
“The trial interim results and from a review of the evidence from all trials presented at the July 1 to July 2, WHO Summit on COVID-19 research and innovation.
“These interim trial results show that hydroxychloroquine and lopinavir/ritonavir produce little or no reduction in the mortality of hospitalised COVID-19 patients when compared to standard of care.
“Solidarity trial investigators will interrupt the trials with immediate effect,’’ it said.
According to the statement, for each of the drugs, the interim results do not provide solid evidence of increased mortality.
“There were, however, some associated safety signals in the clinical laboratory findings of the add-on Discovery trial, a participant in the Solidarity trial.
“These will also be reported in the peer-reviewed publication.
“This decision applies only to the conduct of the Solidarity trial in hospitalised patients and does not affect the possible evaluation in other studies of hydroxychloroquine or lopinavir/ritonavir in non-hospitalised patients or as pre- or post-exposure prophylaxis for COVID-19.
“The interim Solidarity results are now being readied for peer-reviewed publication.’
Ghanaian President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has gone into a 14-day self-isolation after one of his close associates tested positive for the novel coronavirus, a statement has said.
The statement signed by the Minister for Information, Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah, late Saturday said Akufo-Addo decided to take the precautionary measure in compliance with the COVID-19 protocols.
The statement added that although his initial test on Saturday was negative, the president “has elected to take this measure out of the abundance of caution’’.
“During this precautionary period of self-isolation, the president will work from the presidential villa at the Jubilee House,’’ it said.
