The federal government has suggested that coronavirus victims also deserve palliatives and should be enlisted on the conditional cash transfer register administered by the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development.
The Chairman of Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha, made this proposal yesterday while the task force was briefing the press. The conditional cash transfer seeks to provide financial palliatives for the vulnerable of the society across all states of the federation.
In the meantime, Governor Aminu Masari of Katsina State on Thursday night announced the lockdown of another Local government area in the state (Dutsinma).
He said the lockdown which becomes effective from yesterday is meant to curb the spread of COVID-19 in the council and in the state.
The Governor, who made the announcement at the review meeting on COVID-19 at Government House, Katsina, revealed that a report from the NCDC confirmed one COVID-19 case in Dutsinma, necessitating the lockdown.
Another decision taken at the meeting was to shut down major weekly markets in the state, also from yesterday.
The governor also announced the suspension of weekly Friday congregational prayers with effect from next week until further notice and the suspension of annual Ramadan public Tafsir and Tarawiy as well as the suspension of activities at the cinema, event centres and Television viewing centres throughout the state.
Katsina currently has seven cases of COVID-19 and one death had been recorded.
Edo, Lagos, Kaduna, Enugu, Ogun Discharge 20 Patients
Edo State has discharged five coronavirus patients undergoing treatment in its isolation centre.
Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, announced this on his Twitter handle on yesterday.
He tweeted, “I am pleased to announce that 5 of the confirmed cases in #Edo State have now tested negative twice for #COVID-19. They have thus been discharged.
“This bolsters our resolve to defeat this common enemy, as we roll out more measures to check the spread of #COVID-19.”
Also in Lagos, five more patients undergoing treatment at its isolation centres have been discharged.
The Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, made this known in a tweet yesterday.
He said that the five newly-discharged patients bring the total number of patients that have recovered in the state to 90.
Abayomi tweeted, “19 new confirmed cases of #COVID-19 Infection recorded in Lagos on the 16th of April. This brings the total number of confirmed Lagos #COVID-19 cases to 254.
“Five fully recovered #COVID-19 patients were discharged. Total discharged #COVID-19 patients are now 90.”
Three patients have recovered COVID-19 in Kaduna state. The commissioner of health, Dr. Amina Baloni disclosed this in a statement yesterday.
Ogun state governor, Dapo Abiodun, yesterday evening, also announced that the state had discharged six more COVID-19 patients leaving it with only three confirmed cases.
In Enugu State, the second COVID-19 patient, who is one of the two cases in the state that were in isolation, receiving treatment, has tested negative for the disease and consequently been discharged by the State Ministry of Health.
6,649 tested for COVID-19 in Nigeria – NCDC
The NCDC says of the 6,649 people tested for the Coronavirus nationwide, there were more males than females.
Director-General of NCDC, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, in Abuja yesterday.
Iheakweazu said NCDC data revealed that of the 6,649 suspected cases tested for the disease, 71 per cent were males, while females made up just 21 per cent of the total number.
He said of the sources of cases, 210 had travel history, 129 were contacts of confirmed cases, 11 infected by unknown sources, while 92 still had incomplete epidemiological information.
According to the NCDC DG, the agency continues to respond to the pandemic across the country and had prioritised the distribution of Viral Transport Medium, to all the states and FCT, for sample collection.
He also said that the deployment of COVID-19 starter packs to all tertiary institutions and the federal medical centres was in progress.
Iheakweazu further said the NCDC had fully set up an expanded laboratory network for COVID-19 across the six geopolitical zones, with 13 laboratories activated.
He, however, said that the deployment of Rapid Response Team to support response in all states with confirmed case(s) stood at 22.
Soyinka, Others Ask Africa to Reduce Dependence
Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, and other leaders of thought across the African continent have said the current coronavirus pandemic has underscored the need for African countries to change their mindset of depending on help from outside to survive.
They stated this in a letter jointly signed by them.
Apart from Soyinka, the long list of signers to the letter address to African leaders had Makhily Gassama (essayist); Cheikh Kane (writer); Odile Tobner (Librairie des Peuples Noirs, Cameroon) ; Iva Cabral (daughter of Amilcar Cabral, University of Mindelo); and Olivette Otele (Bristol University)
A portion of the letter read, “The challenge for Africa is no less than the restoration of its intellectual freedom and a capacity to create – without which no sovereignty is conceivable. It is to break with the outsourcing of our sovereign prerogatives, to reconnect with local configurations, to break with sterile imitation, to adapt science, technology and research to our context, to elaborate institutions on the basis of our specificities and our resources, to adopt an inclusive governance framework and endogenous development, to create value in Africa in order to reduce our systemic dependence.
“More crucially, it is essential to remember that Africa has sufficient material and human resources to build a shared prosperity on an egalitarian basis and in respect of the dignity of each and everyone. The dearth of political will and the extractive practices of external actors can no longer be used as excuse for inaction. We no longer have a choice: we need a radical change in direction. Now is the time!”
The writers urged African leaders to seize the opportunity of the coronavirus crisis to “break with a model of development based on the vicious cycle of indebtedness.”
China Raises Coronavirus Death Figure By 50%, Denies Cover-up
China has raised the official Coronavirus death toll of its city Wuhan by 50%, giving more credence to US President Trump’s claim that the country lied to the world about its death figures.
Wuhan, the central Chinese city where the coronavirus first emerged late last year, admitted people died at home and cases were missed as hospitals struggled to cope in the early days of the outbreak.
In the new revised figures, the Wuhan city government increased the death toll by 1,290 – about 50 percent – bringing the total in Wuhan to 3,869 and the number of deaths across China to 4,632.
Chinese State controlled Xinhua News Agency quoted an unidentified official in Wuhan’s epidemic and prevention and control headquarters as saying mistaken reporting occurred during the outbreak.
China has also denied editing its official death toll for political purposes.
In an editorial, the Global Times, a tabloid owned by the Communist Party, rejected the accusations and said the revisions were made “based on facts” and that China had not been affected by “Western noise.”
“The strict review and correction of the death toll means there is no room for deliberate concealment,” the paper said. “Speculation that China falsified the death toll from the coronavirus is far from the truth. China is not a country where one can fabricate data in complete disregard of the law.”