Don’t stigmatise health facilities exposed to COVID-19 cases- Lagos Government (Guardian)
The Lagos State Government has urged the public to desist from stigmatising health facilities that might have been exposed to COVID-19 cases in the state.
Dr Abiola Idowu, Executive Secretary, State Health Facility Monitoring and Accreditation Agency (HEFAMAA), made the plea in a statement on Thursday night.
Idowu was reacting to a list of some health facilities being circulated on the social media as purportedly exposed to COVID-19 cases in the state.
She said that such list did not emanate from the agency, nor the state Ministry of Health, through HEFAMAA, ever issued such list. Read more
Lagos shortlists 10 firms for Fourth Mainland Bridge (Punch)
The Lagos State Government has shortlisted 10 firms that applied for the construction of the Fourth Mainland Bridge.
The firms include CCECC Nigeria Limited; CGGC-CGC Joint Venture; China Harbour Engineering Company Limited; China State Construction Engineering Corporation Nigeria Limited; IC ICTAS Insaat Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S. and Ingenieros Consultores, S.A., through Makais Energy.
Others are Julius Berger Nigeria Plc; Mota-Engil and CCCC Consortium; Mutual Commitment Company Limited and Power Construction Corporation of China.
The announcement was made in a statement by the Ministry of Works and Infrastructure. Read more
Tinubu’s chief security officer Lati Raheem is dead (Guardian)
Nigeria’s All Progressives Congress national leader Bola Tinubu on Friday lost his chief security officer Lati Raheem.
The cause of his death is still unknown.
Raheem had been on Tinubu’s team for over 20 years and was the only aide still left from his time as governor of Lagos state from 1999 to 2007. Read more
Kaduna sets up mobile courts to prosecute lockdown violators (Punch)
Kaduna State Government has set up mobile courts to prosecute violators of the lockdown order occasioned by the coronavirus pandemic in the state.
The Solicitor General in the state, Chris Umar, disclosed this in a letter to the Chief Registrar of Kaduna State High Court.
Umar said the decision was taken by the State Executive Council to enforce the executive order restricting movement in the state as part of measures to curb the spread of the novel disease.
The PUNCH had reported that the Deputy Governor, Dr Hadiza Balarabe, had invoked sections 2 and 8 of the Quarantine Act of 1926 and Kaduna State Public Health Law of 1917 to imposed a lockdown on the state on March 26. Read more
Rainstorm wreaks havoc on buildings in Niger (Nation)
Over 50 families have been rendered homeless following wind and rainstorm that occurred on Thursday night in Minna, Niger state.
Areas affected by the rainstorm are; Gidan Mangoro, Gidan Kuka, Kpakungun, and some parts of Tunga.
The rainstorm which lasted for about three hours destroyed houses, schools, churches, mosques, and shops.
Some of the buildings had their roofs blown away, some had their fences fallen, some had parts of their buildings destructed while others had total destruction of their buildings. Read more
How Abba Kyari almost became Obasanjo’s Vice-President – Mamman Daura (Punch)
A nephew and confidant of the President, Mamman Daura, has revealed that during the run-up to the 1999 Presidential election, Abba Kyari was among those considered for the position of running mate to Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo who was the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party.
Daura said this in a tribute to Kyari, the late chief of staff to the President, Maj.Gen Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).
He wrote, “These times coincided with the country’s return to democracy and Malam Abba was among those enthusiastically espousing the cause of General Obasanjo. On his selection as PDP candidate, a group of women and youths in the PDP lobbied Obasanjo to pick Malam Abba as his Vice Presidential running mate. After heated debates, Obasanjo eventually picked Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.” Read more
NJC recommends two judges for retirement (Nation)
The National Judicial Council (NJC) has recommended the immediate compulsory retirement of two judges for engaging in age falsification and withholding of judgment.
The NJC, in a statement by its spokesman, Soji Oye, identified the affected judicial officers as the Acting President of the Customary Court of Appeal Imo State, Chukwuma Francis Abosi and a judge of the Bauchi State High Court, Aliyu Musa Liman.
Abosi was said to have altered his dated of birth from 1950 to 1958 to beat his actual retirement year of 2015 when he originally attained the mandatory retirement age of 65 years. Read more
3 businesses thriving under lockdown at FCT suburbs (DailyTrust)
Despite bringing businesses, markets and places of worship to a halt in order to check the spread of COVID-19, some businesses have continued to thrive at the suburbs of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
The lockdown which has led to the closure of many businesses for over three weeks has not had much impact on food vendors, petty traders, motorcyclists, just as it provided a boost for the operators of Point of Sale (POS) business at the satellite communities of Kugbo, Karu, Nyanya, Karshi and Jikwoyi.
As banks reduced hours of operation and number of customers being allowed into the banking halls in order to enforce the social distancing order, many residents have opted for Point of Sale (POS) to make transactions. Read more
COVID-19: People treated with herbal cure recovers faster – Ezeife (Vanguard)
A former governor of Anambra State, Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife, has said that “available information has shown that people infected by COVID-19 and privately treated at home recovered faster than those taken to isolation centres”.
Chief Ezeife also known as Okwadike stated this while advocating the use of herbal cure for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). According to him, the virus cannot survive African herbal cure.
“Information available on how families dealt with their relations who had tested positive with COVID-19, but were not taken to isolation centres or COVID-19 treatment centres, but were privately treated at home, suggest that the coronavirus cannot survive some herbal treatments,” he noted. Read more
Coronavirus: Disinfectant firm warns after Trump comments (BBC)
A leading disinfectant producer has issued a strong warning not to use its products on the human body after Donald Trump suggested they could potentially be used to treat coronavirus.
Reckitt Benckiser, which owns Lysol and Dettol, said “under no circumstance” should its products be injected or ingested.
President Trump faces a backlash over his comments at a briefing on Thursday.
Disinfectants are hazardous substances and can be poisonous if ingested. Read more
World must ensure equal access for all to COVID-19 vaccines, drugs – WHO (Vanguard)
All new vaccines, diagnostics, and treatments against the new coronavirus must be made equally available to everyone worldwide, the World Health Organization said on Friday as it outlined a plan to accelerate work to fight COVID-19.
Launching what he called a “landmark collaboration” to speed the development of effective drugs, tests, and vaccines to prevent and treat COVID-19, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the lung disease was a “common threat which we can only defeat with a common approach”.
“Experience has told us that even when tools are available they have not been equally available to all. We cannot allow that to happen,” Tedros said in a virtual conference. Read more
Coronavirus surges in Djibouti as population ignores measures (Guardian)
Djibouti has seen a rapid spike in coronavirus cases, with the Horn of Africa nation now recording the highest prevalence on the continent as the population largely ignores measures imposed by authorities.
The tiny but strategically important country that hosts major US and French military bases has recorded 999 positive cases — small on a global scale, but the highest in East Africa. Two people have died.
This is largely due to testing. Djibouti, with a population of around one million, has conducted more than 11,000 tests — a similar number to neighbouring Ethiopia, which has more than 100 million people. Read more
Sunlight destroys coronavirus quickly, say US scientists (Guardian)
The new coronavirus is quickly destroyed by sunlight, according to new research announced by a senior US official on Thursday, though the study has not yet been made public and awaits external evaluation.
William Bryan, science and technology advisor to the Department of Homeland Security secretary, told reporters at the White House that government scientists had found ultraviolet rays had a potent impact on the pathogen, offering hope that its spread may ease over the summer.
“Our most striking observation to date is the powerful effect that solar light appears to have on killing the virus, both surfaces and in the air,” he said. Read more
China to FG in diplomatic letter: 72 Nigerians tested positive in Guangzhou (Punch)
An official diplomatic document has emerged showing that the Chinese Government detailed how 72 Nigerians tested positive for COVID-19 in Guangzhou, China.
The document, REF. No. SWZ[2020] 0128, dated April 22, 2020 by the Foreign Affairs Office, Guangzhou Municipal People’s Government, outlined the profile of the cases and advised Nigerians resident in China to comply with the law of their hosts in controlling the pandemic.
The PUNCH had published a story on Thursday, April 23, 2020, ‘Evacuation: 72 Nigerians, 111 other Africans in China test positive’, which some Nigerians have mounted a strident campaign against, claiming that the story was false. Read more
Wuhan’s severe COVID-19 cases drop to zero – official (Nation)
The number of COVID-19 patients in serious condition in Wuhan, the central China city once hardest hit by the epidemic, has dropped to zero, a health official said on Thursday.
The last patient in serious condition in the Hubei Province capital , was cured Thursday, reducing the number of such patients in the city to zero, said Mi Feng, spokesperson for the National Health Commission (NHC).
Mi told reporters in Beijing that it was the 20th consecutive day for the province to report no new confirmed or suspected cases.
The number of confirmed cases in Hubei Province dropped to 47 Thursday, which was below 50 for the first time, Mi said. Read more
Malaria cases surge in Zimbabwe during coronavirus fight (DailyTrust)
Already battling to contain the novel coronavirus, Zimbabwe health authorities are also facing a surge in malaria cases which has claimed 152 lives this year, a doctor said Friday. The increase in malaria cases has raised concerns that some coronavirus cases may go unrecognised since some symptoms of the two diseases are similar. As the country entered its fourth week of a five-week lockdown imposed to control the spread of the virus, the government announced a 45 percent rise in malaria cases compared to 2019 as the number of deaths increased more than 20 per cent. Read more
Fortnite’s Travis Scott virtual concert watched by millions (BBC)
More than 12 million players logged in for Fortnite’s concert featuring Travis Scott, with reviewers calling it “stunning” and “spectacular”.
It included a skyscraper-sized version of Scott teleporting across the landscape as he performed his songs.
Fortnite is one the world’s most popular games, attracting millions of young players from across the globe.
Scott used the opportunity to reveal a new song, while players celebrated the event with themed in-game items. Read more
Chelsea contact Lille over Osimhen deal (Punch)
English Premier League side Chelsea have contacted Lille over the possible signing of Super Eagles striker, Victor Osimhen, according to reports.
The London-based side are reportedly eyeing a double swoop for Osimhen and teammate Gabriel Magalhaes, according to French outlet le10sport.com.
“According to our sources, the Blues very recently contacted the northern leaders to discuss several subjects.
“Since the transfer of Eden Hazard , the relationship between the two clubs has been very good. And even if Lille change, the contact is always excellent. The first target is Victor Osimhen,” le10sport.com was quoted as saying. Read more
Joshua–Fury fight confirmed for 2021 (Nation)
Matchroom boss Barry Hearn is ’95 per cent’ sure Anthony Joshua faces Tyson Fury at the start of next year.
With the Covid-19 pandemic grounding global sport to a halt, the snooker and darts kingpin believes fans will not tolerate tune-up fights once the lockdown is lifted.
And, while son and boxing promoter Eddie is plotting a summer return for the sport behind closed doors, founding father Barry is predicting the biggest show of all at the start of 2021. Read more
FIFA to give members $150m of virus relief funds (Guardian)
FIFA will release $150 million (139 million euros) to its member football associations to help handle financial troubles caused by the coronavirus, the global governing body said on Friday.
FIFA said that “all operational funding” for 2019 and 2020 would be distributed amongst the 211 member associations in the next few days “as the first step of a relief plan to assist the football community impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic”.
Each national governing body will receive $500,000, that FIFA says would normally be delivered “upon fulfullment of specific criteria”, but will release those funds and any “remaining entitlement for 2019 and 2020”. Read more
Calls for footballers to wear masks if Bundesliga returns (Guardian)
Germany’s ministry of labour wants footballers to wear masks as protection against the coronavirus if Angela Merkel’s government gives the green light for the Bundesliga to return next month.
The German Football League (DFL) confirmed Thursday that they are ready for the Bundesliga to resume from May 9, albeit without fans in stadiums and with strict player hygiene measures in place.
The final decision will be made by German Chancellor Merkel and state leaders, who are due to meet in Berlin on Thursday. Read more
Premier League players should resist pressure over wage cuts, says Keane (Punch)
Former Manchester United captain Roy Keane has told players at the Premier League’s top clubs to ignore pressure to take pay cuts during the coronavirus crisis.
English football has been halted since mid-March in a bid to curb the spread of COVID-19 and clubs at all levels are feeling the pinch.
Premier League chiefs, due to meet with clubs next week, are committed to finishing the season but there is no indication of when it will resume. Read more
Aguero is Manchester City’s biggest idol, says Jesus (Nation)
Gabriel Jesus has described his battle with Sergio Aguero for a place in Manchester City’s starting line-up as “thankless”.
He went on to describe the Argentinian as the best player in the English Premier League club’s history.
In spite of having scored 63 goals in 138 matches for Manchester City, the 23-year-old Brazilian has struggled to secure a regular berth in Pep Guardiola’s preferred 11.
The starting line-up has mostly featured Aguero in the No. 9 role.
“He is the biggest idol that has ever played for the club,” Jesus said in an Instagram Live session on Thursday. Read more
Neymar says lack of football making him anxious (DailyTrust)
Paris St Germain and Brazil forward Neymar says that not knowing when football will be played again is making him anxious.
The 28-year-old is preparing for an eventual return at his home in a gated community in Brazil under the supervision of Ricardo Rosa, his long-standing physical trainer.
Despite Rosa’s best efforts to keep him active with a varied daily routine, Neymar said that absence of football due to the Covid-19 pandemic was weighing on him. Read more