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PTF – It Is Time For Another National Lockdown 

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Another Lockdown  PTF

PTF – It Is Time For Another National Lockdown

With the increasing number of coronavirus cases in the country, the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 has said that the time had come for another national lockdown.

In the wake of the outbreak of the disease, the federal government had imposed a lockdown in Lagos, Ogun States and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) for five weeks to curb the spread of the deadly virus.

The chairman of the PTF and secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, who dropped hints of a looming national lockdown yesterday during the briefing of the Task Force in Abuja, lamented that some Nigerians were already romancing with COVID-19 in the manner of Tom and Jerry.

Mustapha said: “You want to hear the truth? If it were within my powers, this is the time to lockdown. Lockdown might not be a popular thing but this is the time to lockdown because I can see the attitude of Tom and Jerry, we are already romancing with COVID-19 and it is not good.”

While stating that Nigerians must continue to take responsibility to reduce community transmission of the virus, Mustapha urged the citizens to take the virus seriously and continue to observe the guidelines developed by the task force.

“I saw a real romance with COVID-19 today. People behaving as if the matter (virus) is over. It is a very serious issue and my appeal to Nigerians listening is that; let us take this thing (virus) seriously.

“By now, with 500 plus fatalities, you can’t be ignorant, you can’t say you don’t know of any body that has fallen victim either by way of name or pictures but today they are no more ,” he added.

Mustapha explained the reasons why the compliance level of COVID-19 protocols is low in the country. He said that the non-compliance had been largely fuelled by skepticism and ignorance about the disease.

All through the month, Mustapha noted that the PTF communicated to Nigerians in different ways, the dangers of complacency and non-compliance with measures prescribed for the fight against COVID-19.

Particularly, he stressed that Nigerians were reminded that there is at present no known vaccine for the virus and that all over the world, non-pharmaceutical measures still remained the most effective and avoiding being infected remains the best choice for everyone.

He stated: “The PTF also continued to assess the developments nationwide and found that non-compliance has been largely fuelled by skepticism and ignorance about the disease.

“We also noted that stigmatization has further impacted on the willingness of people to come out to seek help and even tell their stories.

“The nature of this pandemic demands that we must detect and treat it in order to address it. Let me emphasise, therefore, that COVID-19 is not a condition to be ashamed of as it has no respect for status, nationality,
race, creed, tribe, etc. Every person infected must be treated to prevent spread and avoidable fatalities,”

The SGF also expressed concern over the resurgence of the virus in Europe, China and the United States.

According to him, ”closely related to the high number of confirmed cases and fatalities at home are lessons drawn from other jurisdictions. From Europe to China to the United States of America, the rising numbers and reported resurgence in some cases should also be of concern to us.”

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Meanwhile, the minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, has said that the Federal Ministry of Health through the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) has developed a guideline for the establishment of Community Support Centres.

The minister, who stated this at the PTF briefing on COVID 19, yesterday in Abuja, said that the central objective of the guideline is the establishment of Community Support Centres (CSCs) in selected clusters of local government areas (LGAs) for the management of COVID-19 cases.

According to him, “these centers will strengthen the capacity of the health the system at the community level to respond to the outbreak and result in the reduction of the transmission of the disease within communities in high burden and high-density states.

On Tuesday, 23rd June, 2020, an Emergency National Council on Health was held virtually, attended by state commissioners for health, heads of agencies, directors at the Federal Ministry of Health, development partners and other stakeholders in the health sector to review status and align all response to COVI-19 outbreak in the states.

“Council approved the Health Sector COVID-19 Pandemic Response Action Plan which was developed by the Federal Ministry of Health in collaboration with departments and agencies to present one response in the health sector delivered in a coordinated and strategic manner.

“As we learn more about the disease, we will continue to evolve response actions. The community transmission has resulted in the high number of confirmed cases with the challenge that in some states, the facilities for case management may become overwhelmed,” he said.

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COVID-19

PCR Tests for Travellers Fraudulent, Probe NCDC, Ministry – WHO Envoy

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PCR Tests for Travellers Fraudulent, Probe NCDC, Ministry – WHO Envoy

The World Health Organisation’s Special Envoy for the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator, Ayoade Alakija, has called for an investigation of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and the Ministry of Health over the required COVID-19 PCR tests for inbound passengers to Nigeria.

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Alakija, in a tweet via her official Twitter handle, @yodifiji, wondered why the PCR tests were done with no reagents.
According to reports, the Director General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Ifedayo Adetifa, had earlier insisted that Nigeria would not scrap COVID-19 tests for inbound passengers into the country.

Adetifa had said the country was reporting a high rate of COVID-19 cases from inbound passengers, hence the need for the insistence of the tests.
Alakija, reacting to a tweet by a journalist, David Hundeyin, tweeted, “It’s a scam. The entire thing is a criminal enterprise and should be exposed. “Diagnostic tests to enter a country where the government officials have interest in Dx test centres. PCR tests with no reagents? NCDC and MOH should be investigated. It is a scam, period.”

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COVID-19

Austria Suspends Mandatory Covid-19 Vaccine Law

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Austria has announced that it is suspending mandatory Covid-19 vaccinations for all adults this came weeks after the legislature took effect in an EU first.

 

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The Alpine nation of nine million people was among few countries in the world to make jabs against the coronavirus compulsory for all adults.
The law took effect in February and called for fines up to 3,600 euros ($3,940) from mid-March for those who do not comply.

However, minister Karoline Edtstadler said the law’s “encroachment of fundamental rights” could no longer be justified by the danger posed by the pandemic.
“After consultations with the health minister, we have decided that we will of course follow what the (expert) commission has said,” Edtstadler told reporters after a Cabinet meeting.
“We see no need to actually implement this compulsory vaccination due to the (Omicron) variant that we are predominantly experiencing here.” He noted

According to him,the highly-contagious variant is widely believed to be less severe than previous strains of the virus, and so far Austrian hospitals have been able to cope with a surge in cases.

 

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COVID-19

F.G. Commences Vaccination with Over 30 Million J&J Vaccines

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Following efforts to increase the COVID-19 vaccination coverage of eligible persons across the country, the Federal Government has launched the service delivery, communication, accountability, logistics, electronic reporting, and supportive supervision (S.C.A.L.E.S) strategy.

The SCALES 2.0 strategy, which will ensure that more Nigerians can easily locate a nearby health facility to get vaccinated by visiting the website (www.vacsitefinder.nphcda.gov.ng), will also integrate childhood immunisation alongside other primary health care services.

 

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Also, eligible persons can now get vaccinated with a single shot of the Johnson and Johnson (J&J) COVID-19 vaccines, as there are over 30 million vaccine doses available.

Nigeria has received over 64 million COVID-19 vaccines – AstraZeneca, Moderna, J&J and Pfizer. Furthermore, 48 million vaccines are expected before mid-year.

Latest vaccination data showed that as of February 21, 2022, a total of 17,199,853 eligible Nigerians have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccination, while 7,663,560 have received their second dose. In total, 24,863,413 vaccine doses have been administered.

The Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr Faisal Shuaib, made this known in Abuja during the launch of the SCALES 2.0 strategy with the use of the single dose J&J vaccine.

Dr Shuaib said: “We want to ensure that we not only decentralise COVID-19 vaccination, but make sure that we improve coverage and access to COVID-19 vaccination. Today, we are vaccinating just a little over 200,000 people per day. For us to reach our target of reaching 70 per cent of eligible populations before the end of 2022, we have to hit 550,000 people per day. This will ensure that we reach herd immunity.

“We are also going to be launching the single shot vaccine (Johnson & Johnson) for everyone. We understand that one of the reasons there is a gap between our first and second doses is because people experience adverse events following COVID-19 vaccination. Although the adverse events are very mild, we know that the opportunity to have a single shot not only in the hardest to reach areas, but everybody having access to one single shot will definitely increase our coverage of COVID-19 vaccination.

“The COVID-19 vaccination ‘site finder’ will improve the ability of Nigerians to assess COVID-19 vaccines. If you are able to sign on to this website, you will be shown the nearest COVID-19 vaccination centre.”

In her remarks, the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for Africa, Dr Moeti Matshidiso, hailed the Federal Government’s vaccination strategy and efforts in ensuring that more Nigerians are covered.

She said: “I think we have learnt many lessons on how to leverage the capacities and lessons in delivering such campaigns in a country like Nigeria and internationally.

“I understand that there is going to be a great deal of emphasis on decentralisation – on really leveraging the decentralised nature of the Nigerian system and government to engage decision makers at the state and local government level, so that they can drive the very much action needed to speed up delivery of vaccines to the population.

“There will also be the need to expand the delivery capacity because at the same time the country is carrying out this important work, there is other work of delivering vaccines, responding to public health emergencies going on.”

The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, added: “Let me assure Nigerians that we have adequate stock of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine, as we have over 30 million doses in stock. I call on all eligible persons that are yet to receive their vaccination to go to the nearest COVID-19 vaccination site and get vaccinated. This single dose offers the same protection you get from two doses of AstraZeneca, Pfizer Bio-N-Tech and Moderna vaccines.

 

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