As the world continues to suffer human and economic losses resulting from the dreaded COVID-19, over 300,000 persons have been afflicted by the virus globally, Blueprint has gathered.
“As of Sunday 11:15 GMT, a total of 311,982 people have been infected with 13,071 deaths reported globally,” the findings were shown in data released by worldometers.info Sunday morning
NCDC confirms 30 cases
And also announcing the nation’s share of the affected persons, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Sunday confirmed 30 cases of COVID-19 in the country.
A breakdown of the figure showed that 28 were active while two were discharged.
Announcing this on its website, the centre said Abuja, which had one case Sunday morning now has four cases, Ekiti has one, while Lagos has 22. The NCDC also confirmed one case in Oyo state Sunday morning of a United Kingdom returnee who had been on self-isolation in Bodija area of Ibadan, the state capital.
“Three new cases of #COVID19 have been confirmed in Lagos, Nigeria. Two cases are returning travellers and one is a contact of a confirmed case.
“As of 05:28 pm on the 22nd of March, there are 30 confirmed cases of #COVID19 in Nigeria. Two have been discharged with no deaths,” teh centre said.
Global effect
Meanwhile, despite severalefforts by governments across the world to block its path, the virus has continued to spread across many countries in Europe, the U.S. and Africa over the weekend.
It is however an irony that in China where the virus originated from, cases were on a decline for over a week. This, however, does not mean that the country has overcome the outbreak.
As at time of reporting, the virus has spread to all continents except Antarctica.
At least, a case of coronavirus has been reported in 188 countries, including Nigeria.
Meanwhile, it has not all been bad news as 95, 874 people have recovered from the virus and discharged to go home.
China
The disease was first detected in Wuhan, China in December 2019 and has since spread to all over the world.
Although China is still the worst hit in terms of infected people, the number of deaths reported from the virus in the Asian country has been surpassed by Italy.
Currently, cases have been slowing down in China and activities are gradually picking up.
As of Sunday, 81,054 infected cases have been reported in the country with 3,261 deaths.
China still has some infected people still undergoing treatment and health monitoring are still ongoing. Meanwhile, Wuhan is still under a partial lockdown.
Europe
Europe has become the new epicentre of the virus globally. As of Sunday, about five countries in Europe accounted for more than one third of the total number of confirmed cases and over half the total deaths globally.
Italy, which is worst hit, has reported 53,578 infected cases with 4,825 deaths. Spain reported 28, 572 infected cases with 1,381 deaths, Germany 22,364 cases with 84 deaths and France 14,459 cases and 562 deaths.
Italy now has the highest number of confirmed deaths globally and cases are still on the rise with lots of elderly people in critical condition.
US
Cases in the U.S. have continued to soar, rising to more than 25,000 over the weekend.
As at Sunday morning, 26,900 cases had been reported with 348 deaths. The U.S. now has fourth highest numbers of cases.
Health officials in hard hit parts of the U.S. were rationing medical equipment and limiting tests to health care workers and severely ill patients as the federal government seeks to expand production of crucial supplies.
Tens of millions of people in states from coast to coast remain in effective lockdown as officials ordered residents to stay home and practice aggressive social distancing.
Africa
Although countries on the continent were among the last to record cases of the virus, new cases have also been increasing.
Egypt still tops the chart of countries with the most infected cases in Africa.
It has reported 294 cases with 10 deaths, and closely followed by South Africa with 240 cases but no death reported. Algeria has the highest number of deaths in Africa with 139 cases confirmed.
Some other African countries which have reported cases are Rwanda, Cameron, Ghana Morocco, Burkina Faso, Tunisia, Senegal Democratic Republic of Congo, Togo and Nigeria.
In Nigeria, cases have been increasing as five new cases were confirmed Sunday morning. This brings the total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in the country to 27.
More cases are still expected to be reported as contact tracing is ongoing.
No respite yet
There is still no respite yet from the Covid-19 outbreak.
Although lots of research is ongoing, there is no known agreed cure or potent vaccine to combat the spread.
Health experts, including in the World Health Organisation, strongly recommended social distancing, a practice that involves people keeping a physical distance of at least one metre from one another, as a potent form of suppressing the spread of COVID-19.
‘800 evade quarantine’
Meanwhile, over 800 persons suspected to have direct or indirect contact with index cases of Covid- 19 in Nigeria avoided self-isolation and being quarantined as at Friday, making the war against the pandemic challenging.
Niger state Commissioner for Health and Hospital Services, Mr. Mohammed Makun Sidi stated this weekend while briefing journalists on the measures in the state against the spread of the virus.
He said: “We have challenge with persons who likely have contact with index cases but have been evading quarantine or self-isolation. Over 800 persons are believed to be avoiding health officials tracing them in this regard. This is surely a challenge and we should appeal to people to cooperate and obey government directives in the battle against Covid- 19.”
He appealed to residents of the state who have travelled from states with cases of Coronavirus to go into self-isolation and report mild symptoms at hospitals.
Sidi also said there was no recorded case of Covid-19 in the state, adding, “we have however made ready quarantine centres in our general hospitals.”
Earlier, Secretary to the Niger State Government (SSG) Ibrahim Matane said the government had ordered closure of schools in the state to protect the lives of children.
He said government was worried about the increasing cases of the coronavirus, saying “it is important to take measures to save lives. All social and political gatherings are also suspended.”
The SSG also said government had released N28.2m as first trench of funds to combat the virus.
He said workers in the state would still report for duties in their various offices, explaining that the state was not yet at that stage where its workers can operate from home.
Lagos, Kwara order stay-at-home
And in a related development, Lagos state Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has ordered civil servants to stay at home for 14 days as part of the measures to curtail the spread of the Coronavirus.
The governor announced this Sunday after six new cases of coronavirus were found in the state.
According to the governor, the stay-at-home directive applied to workers on grade level one to 12.
“We are shutting down almost 70 percent of our workforce from Monday, 23rd of March, 2020. We are shutting down levels 1-12 in our public service for the next 14 days,” he said.
“We know the enormity of the task at hand, and we are ready for it. We are working with market leaders and even public transport unions to ensure social distancing.
“Self-Isolate for at least 14 days if you are just returning to the country from abroad. That would be the right thing to do.
“We must always rise to our challenges. We will win with the cooperation of Lagos residents. We have done this before, we will do it again,” the governor assured.
Similarly, Kwara state Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq also directed all civil servants in the state to work from home from Monday until further notice.
The directive, the governor said, was part of measures to prevent the spread of the pandemic among residents.
The governor, in a statement Sunday, however, exempted staff of the Ministry of Health and essential workers in the state from the directive.
The statement also discouraged all gatherings of more than 25 people until further notice.
While saying the state had not recorded any case of the COVID-19 since the outbreak, the governor said the directive to workers was difficult but important.
The state government had last week also ordered the closure of all public and private nurseries, primary, secondary and state-owned tertiary institutions.
The order would also be taking effect Monday.
“The welfare, security and well-being of all Kwarans are of utmost importance to our administration and, as such, we have embarked on a robust healthcare transformation agenda to give every Kwaran access to better quality and affordable healthcare.
“At this moment, however, the world is faced with a viral pandemic caused by coronavirus. Coronavirus Disease 2019, or COVID-19, is a new strain of coronavirus to infect humans. It was first detected in China and has now spread around the world, including Nigeria.
“Currently, we have no confirmed case of COVID-19 in Kwara State. However, as a proactive government, and consistent with our determination to upgrade healthcare infrastructure in Kwara state, I have since approved funding for the construction of an isolation centre at the onset of our administration. Now, the number of cases in Nigeria is increasing, there are a total of 27 confirmed cases.
“The federal government of Nigeria is leading the fight against coronavirus by taking bold and decisive decisions that will save lives. In Kwara State, we are following the lead of the Federal government by mobilising all resources available to us to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in Kwara.
“Even so, basic preventive measures by individuals and communities remain the most powerful tool to prevent the spread of COVID-19. As individuals, we are all responsible for the general well-being of fellow Kwarans and should work together to prevent the spread of COVID-19 by:
*Washing our hands frequently with soap and water for at least 20 seconds as much as possible daily;
*Avoiding touching our eyes, mouths, and noses;
*Covering our mouths and noses with our bent elbow or tissue when we cough or sneeze;
*Staying more than 1 meter (3 feet) away from a person who is sick and coughing, and wearing a mask if you are ill (especially if coughing) or looking after someone who is ill and coughing;
*Abstaining from handshaking until the threat of this COVID-19 is zero; and
*Avoiding crowded area and minimising any gathering to a maximum of 25.
“As a community, we must do everything possible to prevent any transmission of COVID-19 by embracing the concept of social distancing and self-isolation. These measures are to prevent anyone that may be infected with COVID-19 from spreading the disease to others. An exponential spread of COVID-19 in our community might be catastrophic because we could have thousands of our citizens sick at the same time.”
Worshippers dispersed in Ogun
In a related development, worshippers of some defiant churches in Ogun state who flouted the government’s ban on public gatherings of more than 50 people, were dispersed Sunday by a task force set up to ensure compliance.
The enforcement team, led by CSP Toyin Afolaogun stormed churches in Abeokuta, to ensure compliance with the ban.
The team equally disrupted and dispersed worshippers in some of the churches that flouted the directive.
Some of the churches affected are Living Faith Church (Winners Chapel), Quarry Road and St. Anne’s Catholic Church in Ibara, both in Abeokuta, the state capital.
When the task force arrived Winners Chapel at about 6:30am, hundreds of worshippers who had assembled preparatory to early morning service were dispersed.
The worshippers were given marching order to hold service only if they comply with the directive, limiting number of worshippers to 50.
At St. Anne’s Catholic Church in Ibara, Abeokuta, while early morning mass was in progress, the team demanded to count the number of worshippers in the church.
Although, the worshippers adhered to the required metre of distancing in the church, but after counting the worshippers, CSP Afolaogun dispersed them for exceeding 50 and ordered re-assembling in compliance with the directive of the government.
However, many churches equally visited in Abeokuta, were under lock and key.
For instance, the Celestial Church of Christ, Ibara, conspicuously displayed a notice at the Church’s gate, suspending the service indefinitely.
The notice reads “In compliance with the state government’s directives on Coronavirus, church members and visitors are hereby advised to stay away from the church premises until further notice. Please, pray at home.”
Speaking to journalists after the enforcement exercise, CSP Afolaogun said: “So far, so good, we have recorded about 80 percent compliance. The church that did not comply, we politely told them to comply accordingly. We politely told them to leave and re-assemble themselves.
“Anybody who fails to comply with directives of Governor Dapo Abiodun, for sure, will face the wrath of the law. We want to appeal to the general public to comply with the directives of the state government. Every directive should be complied with.”
When asked on the number of arrest made, he said “So far, there is no arrest.”
Despite Global warning on COVID 19: churches, political parties in full sessions in Delta
Delta
And from Delta state came the report that in defiance of the global warning, some religious and political activities were held weekend with a gathering of more than 50 people in attendance.
Although the state government was yet to make public statement prohibiting such gatherings,
Governor Ifeanyi Okowa however ordered all schools shut down Thursday this week.
Blueprint gathered that churches in Asaba, state capital and other cities in the state, held their normal church services Sunday
Also, the state chapter of the People Democratic Party (PDP) went ahead with its local government congresses Saturday, where majority of the incumbent executive members at that level were returned.
In Isoko North council where officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) were said to have monitored the congress, Mr. Godwin Ogorugba was re-elected as chairman as 17 others as the local government party executives.
Returning Officer for the congress, Mr. Appearance Esiso described the congress which held at Ozoro field as very peaceful and commended members of the party for their good leadership, explaining that the conduct of the congress was in line with the provisions of the PDP constitution.
Former Minority Leader of the House of Representatives and member representing Isoko Federal Constituency, Leo Ogor said he was pleased with the outcome of the congress and thanked party faithful for their support over the years.
“Today is a great day and I thank God for keeping me alive to witness this day. Let me thank you all for being here and for your support over the years,” Ogor said.
Also, Majority Leader of the Delta State House of Assembly Tim Owhefere urged the newly elected party officials to work hard to deliver all candidates of the party in future elections, saying party guidelines were fully observed in the conduct of the congress.
In his acceptance speech, Mr Ogorugba said: “Let me assure those who couldn’t return to the executive to be patient with us as we are compiling names of those who didn’t make it and we will empower them. I am sure that Isoko North will continue to take first in this kind of activities.”
He commended leaders and party faithful for the peaceful conduct, saying it was devoid of rancour.
