Dispute rages in Lagos over lockdown’s likely return (Nation)
Will lockdown return to Lagos as COVID-19 cases continue to rise in the nation’s commercial capital?
This question is generating intense controversy in the social media as Lagosians participate in an online poll over whether the stay-at-home order, which President Muhammadu Buhari lifted on May 4, should return.
In the nationwide tally, there were 2,558 cases on the day the lockdown was eased and replaced with 8pm to 6am curfew, but the number has risen to 4,787 as of Wednesday, an increase of 87.1 per cent.
The number of deaths rose from 87 to 158 within nine days, which comes to 81.6 per cent increase. Read more
Lagos seals off unapproved buildings in Magodo wetland (Punch)
The Lagos State Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development has sealed off all unapproved buildings in the Magodo wetland in the Ikosi-Isheri Local Council Development Area of the state.
PUNCH Metro had reported that the state government decried the spate of unapproved housing developments in the Magodo green belt.
During an on-the-spot assessment of the area on Tuesday, the Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Dr Idris Salako, said buildings in the wetland were structurally unstable as they were either tilting or cracking, and ordered their sealing off. Read more
LASEMA quells fires in hotels on Lagos Island, Ikeja (Guardian)
The Lagos State Emergency Management Authority (LASEMA) said it has just concluded an operation in the early hours of today at 205 Bamgbose Street on Lagos Island, where the Agency curtailed another fire incident in a two storey building that houses a hotel.
The fire incident, which gutted a section of the two storey building, was attributed to the effect of power surge in the split air-conditioning unit in one of the rooms, when public power supply was restored.
The inferno sparked by the power surge in the split air-conditioning unit in one of the rooms on the second floor of the hotel building reported spread to two adjoining rooms before it was curtailed and extinguished by the combined efforts of emergency responders. Read more
COVID-19: Lagos subjects fresh lockdown to online vote (Punch)
The Lagos State Government has subjected its proposed lockdown to a vote on social media.
According to the state government, the decision was informed by the disregard for social distancing and other guidelines issued by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and health experts.
In a tweet on Tuesday, the state government wrote, “Considering the level of compliance with government’s directives on limiting the spread of COVID-19 in Lagos State, should the state government impose another lockdown or not?”
The government asked residents to vote yes, no or neutral.
As of 12pm on Wednesday, over 53,000 votes had been cast. Read more
NHRC condemns violation of patients’ rights (Nation)
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has condemned growing cases of violation of the rights of those being held in isolation and treatment centres for Coronavirus pandemic.
The commission noted that suspected victims of COVID-19 and those being treated for the ailments possess certain rights, protected by the Constitution, which must be upheld at all times.
NHRC’s Executive Secretary Tony Ojukwu said incessant violations of COVID-19 patients’ rights accounted for the rising cases of protests at treatment centres and fleeing of patients from such centres in many parts of the country. Read more
Claims of COVID-19 cure only exist on social media – NAFDAC (Punch)
Director General, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye. Source: von.gov.ng
Eniola Akinkuotu, Abuja
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control says it has received only one application from one company for the endorsement of a product to treat the symptoms of COVID-19 and not the virus itself.
NAFDAC said all other claims about a possible cure for COVID-19 in Nigeria only exist on social media and the pages of newspaper.
The Director-General of NAFDAC, Prof. Moji Adeyeye, said this in a statement on Wednesday.
The agency was reacting to the several claims made by experts in the media that they had a cure for COVID-19. Read more
Man nabbed for allegedly raping neighbour’s 10-year-old daughter (Guardian)
The police in Osun State have arrested a 27-year-old man, Fatai Gbodorogun, for allegedly defiling a 10-year-old girl in the state.
The victim, name withheld, was reportedly abused several times in Ila Orangun community in the state by Fatai, who lives in the same neighborhood with the victim’s aunt.
It was gathered that Fatai would always sneak into the victim’s house whenever her aunt was not around and have carnal knowledge of her. And was only able to summon courage to reveal to her aunt and her father that Fatai had been abusing her since last year. Read more
Lockdown relaxation for review this week – FG (DailyTrust)
The Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 on Tuesday said the directive on the relaxation of the lockdown would be reviewed this week.
The national coordinator of the PTF, Sani Aliyu, disclosed this at the daily briefing of the task force. Aliyu said: “We continue to monitor closely some of the guidelines we’ve produced. COVID-19: Ministers wear masks for briefings, healthcare personnel work without them Lockdown: Gov Wike orders auctioning of impounded vehicles “You’re probably aware that by the end of this week, we’ll be coming to the end of the second week of easing the lockdown and we’ll be taking further decisions based on the review of the performance of the restrictions we have in place. Read more
Trump presses for schools to reopen, against advice of Anthony Fauci (CBC)
US President Donald Trump called on governors across the nation Wednesday to work to reopen schools that were closed because of the coronavirus, pointedly taking issue with Dr. Anthony Fauci’s caution against moving too quickly in sending students back to class.
The president accused Fauci of wanting “to play all sides of the equation,” a comment that suggested he is tiring of the nation’s top infectious disease expert.
“I think they should open the schools, absolutely. I think they should,” Trump told reporters at the White House, echoing comments he had made in a television interview. “Our country’s got to get back and it’s got to get back as soon as possible. And I don’t consider our country coming back if the schools are closed.” Read more
Neighbour reported mass shooter’s domestic violence, weapons to police (BBC)
A former neighbour of the gunman behind last month’s mass shooting in Nova Scotia says she reported his domestic violence and cache of firearms to the RCMP years ago and ended up leaving the community herself due to fears of his violence.
Brenda Forbes said that in the summer of 2013, she told police about reports that Gabriel Wortman had held down and beaten his common-law spouse behind one of the properties he owned in Portapique, a coastal community west of Truro.
Domestic violence is being examined as a key aspect of the mass shooting, as police have said the rampage began on the night of April 18 after the gunman argued with his common-law spouse and restrained and beat her before she managed to escape into the woods. Read more
Angela Merkel says she is ‘pained’ by Russian hacking (BBC)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has confirmed that she was targeted by hackers thought to be Russian military intelligence (GRU).
She was asked in parliament about a German magazine report that the GRU had obtained emails from her constituency office in a hacking attack in 2015.
“It pains me,” she said, describing the hacking as “outrageous”. Read more
China places second city on lockdown over early signs of dreaded second wave (RT)
Two cities in northeastern China have imposed travel restrictions and gone into temporary lockdown amid a new cluster of coronavirus infections which have sparked fears of an impending second wave sweeping the country.
Wuhan, the original epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, reported at least five new indigenous cases of infection on Monday, adding further to concerns that China may not have entirely vanquished the coronavirus just yet.
Since then, the northeastern Chinese city of Jilin imposed fresh travel restrictions following confirmation of six new infected patients on Tuesday, five of which were traced directly to a case in the neighboring city of Shulan. Read more
FBI serves warrant on Sen. Richard Burr over coronavirus-related stock sales (NYPost)
FBI agents reportedly seized the cell phone of a North Carolina senator Wednesday as part of a Justice Department investigation into the lawmaker’s eyebrow-raising stock trades at the start of the coronavirus crisis.
Sen. Richard Burr, the North Carolina Republican who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, handed over his phone to the agents after they served him with a search warrant at his Washington-area home, an anonymous official told Yahoo News.
The Justice Department began probing Burr’s stock transactions at the end of March to gauge whether he violated a law preventing members of Congress from trading on insider information they received through their jobs. Read more
Amazon updates its HD 8 tablet with faster specs (Metro)
Amazon has refreshed its popular line of Fire HD 8 tablets with a faster processor and USB Type-C charging. The RAM has also been increased from 1.5GB to 2GB and Amazon says the new 2.0GHz chip is 30% faster than the previous version. The last time the 8-inch tablet was updated was in 2018 and, at £89, it remains an affordable tablet for entertainment – especially if you’re signed up to Amazon’s Prime music and video services. Read more
Barcelona’s Dembele tests negative for COVID-19 (Nation)
Injured Barcelona superstar, Ousman Dembele, has tested negative for coronavirus.
The French World Cup winner was Barcelona’s last squad member to be tested for the virus.
The club announced that Ousmane Dembele is coronavirus-free and can return to work. Read more
Former Real Madrid player arrested for ‘smuggling cocaine’ (Independent)
Former Real Madrid striker Edwin Congo has declared himself innocent after he was questioned on Tuesday regarding an alleged link to a cocaine trafficking ring in Spain.
The Colombian striker was detained by police in the Spanish capital and interrogated for an hour, before being allowed to return home.
“I’m very calm,” he told sports show El Chiringuito, for which he works as a pundit. “It’s not a comfortable situation, but I’m at home… relaxed. They asked me a series of questions and, at the end, I returned home.” Read more
Hodgson has no fears over Premier League return despite virus (Guardian)
Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson is ready to take part in the Premier League’s proposed restart during the coronavirus crisis despite being in the vulnerable age group.
Hodgson is the oldest manager in Premier League history at 72, potentially putting the former England coach in danger if he contracts the virus.
But Hodgson said he had no fears about getting back to work if the Premier League stick to their plan to let clubs start training next week. Read more
Norwich against Premier League relegation if Championship season stops (BBC)
Norwich City say relegation from the Premier League should be scrapped if the top flight completes its season but the Championship does not.
Premier League clubs met on Monday to to continue talks on ‘Project Restart’ but doing away with relegation has not yet been discussed.
The league is aiming to return by 12 June, with the Canaries bottom of the table and six points from safety. Read more
‘Shobushi’ becomes 1st Sumo wrestler to die from coronavirus in Japan aged 28 (RT)
Sumo wrestler Shobushi has become the first practitioner of the Japanese martial art to die from the coronavirus. The 28-year-old suffered multiple organ failure on Wednesday after falling ill with the disease last month.
The Japan Sumo Association (JSA) announced on Wednesday that Shobushi, real name Kiyotaka Suetake, was admitted to a Tokyo hospital with Covid-19 infection on April 10, the Japan Times reports.
An initial test for coronavirus came back negative, despite the wrestler reportedly coughing up blood, but then a follow-up showed up positive. Following a worsening of his condition, Shobushi was moved to an intensive care unit but later died. Read more
MLB coronavirus protocols include limiting spitting, high fives (NYPost)
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MLB’s medical/safety protocols to return to play will include trying to discourage players from spitting, high-fiving and taking ride services such as Uber to the ballpark.
MLB has discussed a variety of these issues with the Players Association, but as of Wednesday night had not officially presented the full medical/safety document to the union.
Even before MLB shut down in mid-March, officials from the Commissioner’s Office were informing players how to mitigate the risk of contracting coronavirus by, for example, not using fans’ writing implements to sign autographs. Read more