CORONAVIRUS NOT AIRBORNE - WHO DEBUNKS MYTH.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has debunked a myth which suggested that coronavirus is airborne and can remain in the air for 8 hours.

 

'Coronavirus is not airborne' - WHO debunks myth

 

The international health agency in its tweet stated that the virus is mainly transmitted through droplets generated when an infected person coughs, sneezes or speaks.

 

It added that the droplets are too heavy to hang in the air and falls quickly on the floor and surfaces.

 

Some of the protective measures the WHO listed include keeping 1m distance from other people, disinfecting surfaces, washing of hands.

 

See the tweet below:

 

 

 

LOW NUMBER OF CORONAVIRUS TESTS IN NIGERIA RAISES SUSPICION OF CONSPIRACY

While the Nigerian Government may have announced only 65 confirmed cases of Coronavirus so far, the numbers clearly do not reflect the true state of things in the country, many observers believe.

With the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control in charge of testing and confirming the number of infected persons in the country, the agency seems compromised as data are being hidden from the public.

It was reported that there are more silent cases of Coronavirus than the figure released by the NCDC is showing.

Also, few number of tests are being conducted with the agency not attending to complaints made by some Nigerians, who call the NCDC hotlines to report suspected cases of COVID-19.

The country has five testing centres – two in Lagos and one each in Abuja, Osun and Edo.

A Twitter user, @UtohPaul, raised the alarm on how people were not being tested as the NCDC had prioritised politicians and influential Nigerians for testing.

“There are people waiting to be tested but rather than sort this backlog out, designated personnel have been deployed to government officials and other VIPs. This thing will blow in our faces,” he tweeted.

CAPTAIN@UtohPaul

There are people waiting to be tested but rather than sort this backlog out, designated personnel have been deployed to government officials & other VIPs.
This thing will blow in our faces#CovidNGR

8

12:07 PM - Mar 26, 2020

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In another tweet, he said that new tests would not be done as the NCDC was attending to backlogs.

“Just been informed that the test of new cases for the #COVID19NIGERIA will have to wait a while as they're attending to a backlog. The exception is if the case is severe,” his tweet read. 

CAPTAIN@UtohPaul

Just been informed that the test of new cases for the #COVID19NIGERIA will have to wait a while as they're attending to a backlog.

The exception is if the case is severe so please be patient.

Our DM's are open if you need any help@Tutsy22

71

4:27 PM - Mar 26, 2020

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As at March 25, only 178 tests had been conducted in Nigeria since the first case was recorded in the country on February 27.

According to the NCDC, 178 subjects were tested in a total of 16 states – Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Edo, Ekiti, Enugu, FCT, Kano, Katsina, Lagos, Nasarawa, Ogun, Ondo, Oyo, Rivers and Yobe.

At least 88 tests have been done in Lagos followed by Abuja with 52 tests.

The two states currently have the highest number of cases with 32 in Lagos and 10 in Abuja.

As against the deliberate act of not testing people in Nigeria, the World Health Organisation has called for the mass testing of people suspected of having the virus.

“You cannot fight a fire blindfolded and we cannot stop this pandemic if we don’t know who is infected.

“We have a simple message for all countries: test, test, test. Test every suspected case,” WHO said.

As it stands, there are 2,100 total confirmed Coronavirus cases in Africa with Sierra Leone, Sao Tome and Principe, Malawi, Comoros, Lesotho, Botswana, Burundi, and South Sudan yet to record any case of the COVID-19 virus.

While 101 persons have recovered, 31 deaths have been recorded on the continent.

There are fears that if the situation remains the same in Nigeria and more people with suspected cases are denied access to testing, the spread of the virus could further escalate in the coming days in Africa’s most populous country.

WESTERN DIPLOMATS WARN OF CORONAVIRUS EXPLOSION IN NIGERIA AS EUROPEAN COUNTRIES EVACUATE CITIZENS

Reports reaching our Newsdesk has it that some Western diplomats on Friday warned that with the current and abysmal way the Nigerian Government was handling the Coronavirus outbreak, the number of infections could witness a significant rise in the coming weeks. 

Already, Nigeria has 81 confirmed cases and one recorded death of the pandemic. 

According to the diplomatic community, infections could rise to more than 10,000 in the coming weeks as there are at least 5,000 persons, who had come in contact with infected persons in Nigeria already. 

This category of persons, it was gathered, had gone ahead to mingle with thousands of others in the society without realising that they had the virus.

"This is the real danger. A lot of people who have had contacts with original carriers of the virus don't even know they have the ailment and have in fact gone ahead to mingle with hundreds and thousands of others in the society, spreading the virus further.

"From information we have in the diplomatic community, there could be an explosion of confirmed infections in the coming weeks. It is going to disrupt a lot of things," a senior diplomat attached to one European high commission in Nigeria told SaharaReporters on Friday.

Echoing the same sentiment, another diplomat, whose country has provided technical support to African nations battling the spread of the virus, said the situation in Nigeria was dire because the number of untested infections far outweighed those examined by government agencies. 

So far, only around 200 persons have been tested for Coronavirus in Nigeria due to the unavailability of testing kits.

Though Chinese billionaire, Jack Ma, has donated testing kits and protective items to Nigeria and other African countries to help combat the virus, hundreds of potentially infected persons are yet to be examined in Nigeria, increasing the risk of an epidemic in the West African state. 

"We could be having tens of thousands of confirmed cases across Nigeria in a few days from now. 

"There are thousands of people with the virus already on the loose in the country and many of this people cannot be traced. They have taken this pandemic into every nook and cranny of this country. 

"I think Nigeria must act fast to avert a full-blown war," the diplomat said on Friday, adding that Western countries will continue to provide technical support to help Africa and the rest of the world conquer the virus. 

Already, there have been reported cases of people being asked to self-isolate after reporting to health agencies of having symptoms of the virus. 

Without proper monitoring and stringent measures to ensure such persons do not expose others to infection in case they have the virus, thousands of individuals in this category have gone on with their daily activities and opened up the chance of an epidemic in the country. 

Unwilling to take chances, some Western countries are already evacuating their citizens from Nigeria and other African countries. 

For example, an Air France flight on Thursday moved 260 Europeans from Nigeria to France to prevent them from being infected with the virus. 

This came after the Nigerian Government granted a one-week permission to Air France and KLM to evacuate Europeans from the country following the continued spread of the pandemic.

Also on Thursday, British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Ms. Catriona Laing CB, said the mission was exploring available options to send staff and their families back to the United Kingdom.

This was occasioned by projections by experts and top diplomats that the Coronavirus pandemic could explode in Nigeria and other African countries in the coming days.

But according to the World Health Organisation, Nigeria and other African countries battling the virus must conduct more tests to portray the true picture of things and avert a major crisis.

COVID-19: LAGOS STATE MIGHT HAVE UP TO 39,000 CASES, SAYS HEALTH COMMISSIONER

The Lagos government on Friday said it expects to see up to 39,000 cases of COVID-19 in the state.

The Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, disclosed this at a Press briefing at the Ministry  of Health in Alausa.

Abayomi said, “Our mathematical modelling shows that the worst-case scenario is that we may see up to 39,000 cases in Lagos.”

He, however, said if everyone practices good social distancing, the figure will be limited to 13,000.

“If we add social distancing to active contact tracing, then we will be able to bend the curve further,” he said.

Abayomi said the figures were small as  compared to outbreaks around the globe

“The figures may seem alarming at this point, but this is just to emphasize to the Lagos community to follow instructions of the incident commander to make sure that we practice social distancing and other preventive measures.

“Looking at the same time frame from the introduction of the index case, you can see that Lagos State is not seen anywhere near what Spain, Italy and Iran are showing.

“So, at weeks two and three of our index case, we are flat and at week four, we have 37 cases; while at the same fourth week, Italy, Iran and Spain had more than 20,000 cases.

“So, we are doing something right in the state,” Abayomi added.