Category: CORONAVIRUS

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said yesterday that recovery in air travel continued in October 2021 with broad-based improvements in both domestic and international markets.

But, it warned that the imposition of travel bans by governments, against the advice of the WHO, could threaten the sector’s recovery.

The global body said comparisons between 2021 and 2020 monthly results are distorted by the extraordinary impact of COVID-19.

According to IATA  government responses to the emergence of the Omicron variant are putting at risk the global connectivity it has taken so long to rebuild,” said Willie Walsh, its  director general.

IATA said: “The lifting of the U.S. restrictions on travel from some 33 countries last month raised hopes that a surge in pent-up travel demand would buoy traffic over the coming Northern Hemisphere winter.

 

THE World Health Organisation (WHO) has said travel bans will not keep Omicron COVID-19 variant infections out of countries.

But, it said if they are put in place, they should be used well to buy time.

“Dr. Anthony Fauci is right that if you do something as drastic as a travel ban, use it well to buy time,” WHO spokesperson, Dr. Margaret Harris, said about the top U.S. infectious disease expert’s comments about the effectiveness of temporary travel bans.

“But we do know that it won’t keep cases out. Usually, by the time where countries are aware that there is a risk of importation, that’s already happened.”

Dr. Harris said the duration of a travel ban should be used to ramp up surveillance, including looking at how and where people will be tested, and what will happen when there are positive cases, what the situation is in hospitals, how vaccination can be accelerated, and how to advise people and help them protect themselves.

“The reason we’re not keen on travel bans is not just because it harms the countries that you’re shutting your borders to, but also it really limits the spread of critical things like the scientific materials you need, the humanitarian supplies you need to respond to something like this outbreak,” she said.

THE Federal Government has unveiled plans to make Nigeria the vaccine hub for West Africa, especially because of the rude awakening of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It noted that there is an urgent need to support the production capacities of indigenous medical industry to protect Nigerian citizens and mitigate capital flight derived from importation of vaccines.

Minister of Health Dr. Osagie Ehanire, who stated these yesterday during his address at the National Council on Health (NCH) meeting in Abuja, with the theme: “The journey towards sustainable development goals (SDGs): Applying lessons from COVID-19 pandemic to build a resilient health system,” added that Nigeria is still far from achieving the Sustainable Development Goal 3 by the United Nations (UN).

He said: “COVID-19 also brought a rude awakening of how totally import dependent we are when it comes to pharmaceuticals, vaccines and other critical commodities. The realisation of the urgency of domestic manufacturing has never been so clear. Developing and supporting the capacity to begin indigenous medical industry is a national security issue, to not only protect our citizens but also mitigate capital flight derived from importation of vaccines.

“The Federal Government is working with an indigenous private pharmaceutical company to make Nigeria a vaccine manufacturing hub for West Africa and beyond. Government has 49 per cent stake in BioVaccines Nigeria Ltd (BVNL) a PPP venture to produce various vaccines in-country. This helps ensure the resilience we seek becomes reality to be celebrated in the quest for self-sufficiency, even in the face of surprises.

“We have also come a long way in expectation of a law for mandatory health insurance in Nigeria, a critical health sector reform to revolutionise funding and undergoing innovative digital health technology reforms. Side by side with this is the network of National Primary Health Care centres to take care to the grassroots. Models of new PHC designs have been sent to state governors and contain staff quarters, assured water supply, solar powered aggregates and a sound complement of human resources for health. These PHCs are the most important building blocks of our health system and should be prioritised by all states as the platform to attain UHC.”

The minister added: “Opportunities to benefit from COVID-19 pandemic include construction of a total of 50 oxygen plants by the Federal Government and Global Fund, and importation of thousands of oxygen cylinders to make oxygen available to hospitals, including PHCs, within a short drive.

“The emergency medical treatment provided for in the National Health Act is being realised with the setting up of the National Emergency Medical Service and Ambulance System (NEMSAS),  an innovative care system that is to take Nigeria to the level of developed countries by making medical services available at the site of medical emergency with a phone call.”

 

House of Representatives Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila has called for arrest and prosecution of owners of private laboratories involved in issuance of fake COVID-19 certificates across the country.

The came as the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) declared that more that 5.8 million have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine since the begining of vaccination.

He frowned at a situation where authorities arrested people parading such fake certificates without going to the source. He said such people may not even know they are carrying fake certificates.

The speaker spoke during an interactive session with heads of various agencies and parastatals under the Federal Ministry of Aviation, on the need to improve the condition of Nigerian airports, especially the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos.

Gbajabiamila said it is important that a law is enacted for the establishment of a government agency such as Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in the United States (U.S.) that will regulate the activities of operators within the airports in Nigeria.

He expressed concerns over the activities of airport officials, who engage in extorting travellers and other unethical practices, hence portraying the country in bad light.

He called for deliberate actions toward ending the menace.

Director General of Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr. Ifedayo Adetifa disclosed that some individuals who presented fake COVID-19 certificates were arrested and handed over to the Department of State Security (DSS) for prosecution.

On the reliability of the test carried out by the private laboratories, he argued that some of the private laboratories might not be involved in the fake COVID-19 certificates, but by some corrupt individuals, who allegedly connived with some officials at the airports.

Read Also: COVID-19: Kwara administers 400,000 vaccine doses, begins mass vaccination

Director of Port Health, Dr. Godfrey Oratubo, said the agency has so far laid-off 20 private staff and three permanent staff in Lagos as well as nine private staff in Abuja for such unwholesome practices.

He said 90 per cent of the workers involved in the scandal are private staff.

Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) Captain Rabiu Yadudu and the Director General of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) Captain Musa Nuhu complained about the lack of coordination among various government agencies working at the airports.

They said this was responsible for most of the problems at the airports and called on the National Assembly to help address the problem.

Kwara Coordinator of NPHCDA Mrs. Deborah Oladipo yesterday in Ilorin on the sidelines of the mass COVID-19 vaccination in the state said 5,891,305 Nigerians or 5.3 per cent of the overall eligible population have taken their dose and 3,252,067 or 2.9 per cent have received their second dose and are fully vaccinated.

“As we are all aware, the overall population of eligible persons targeted for COVID-19 vaccination to enable the country reach herd immunity against the disease is 111,776,503.

“With this figure, you will agree with me that this is a tiny fraction of our population.

“We still have a long way to go for a sizable number of our population to be fully vaccinated. The year is gradually coming to an end and with its resultant flurry of activities,” she said.

Oladipo observed that there would continue to be mass movement of people into and across the country, and that there would also be intrastate movements and gatherings in the forms of parties and celebrations.

“We cannot deny the fact that the virus is still very much with us. There has been an upsurge in the number of people infected with the virus in recent times according to the statistics released by the NCDC.

“This is why this mass vaccination campaign has become necessary,” she said.

 

Ondo State Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu has inaugurated an initiative to vaccinate three million residents against COVID-19 by the end of January.

Speaking at the event in Akure yesterday, Akeredolu said the initiative was in continuation of his administration’s resolve to expand the Covid-19 vaccination coverage across the 18 council areas of the state. The governor, who was represented by his deputy, Mr. Lucky Aiyedatiwa, said it was his resolve to ensure safety of residents in the state.

“The state government through the Primary Health Care Development Agency introduced mass vaccination campaign exercise MVC to reduce the spread of COVID 19.

“And to achieve more success in reducing the spread of Covid-19, a new approach targeted at vaccinating about 80 per cent of the population in the state is being introduced,’’ the governor said.

He said vaccination had been proved to be the effective way of combating the pandemic, and urged residents to come out to get vaccinated.

Read Also: 60 labs not reporting COVID-19 cases, says expert

Akeredolu also enjoined residents of the state to always adhere strictly to the precautionary measures put in place, especially the use of facemasks, to reduce the spread of the virus.

Also yesterday, Kwara State government launched mass vaccination campaign against COVID-19 in Ilorin, the state capital.

The state said it has so far administered close to 400,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine (Astra Zeneca and Moderna).

Chairman, state task force on Immunization, who doubles as Deputy Governor, Kayode Alabi, said the occasion was meant to commence a renewed commitment to ensure that the effect of the ravaging COVID-19 scourge is minimised on residents.

The deputy governor encouraged all and sundry to ensure protection against COVID-19 by getting themselves vaccinated, saying that the vaccines have been adjudged to be safe and devoid of serious adverse events following immunisation. “The arrival of COVID-19 vaccine has brought a sigh of relief as we know, like other Vaccine Preventable Diseases, COVID-19 vaccine will reduce the number of illnesses and deaths from the disease. The Kwara State Government under the leadership of Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq left no stone unturned to see that the introduction of the vaccine in the state suffered no hitch by promptly releasing counterpart fund to aid the implementation,” he said.

 

The Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) on COVID-19 yesterday expressed concern over the virus “case fatality ratio” in the country.

It unfolded plans to vaccinate 50 per cent of the population by the end of January next year.    The committee also raised the alarm over the existence of a black market for illegal vaccination certificate procurement in the country.

The PSC added that Nigerians’ poor attitude to COVID-19 protocols was exposing the country to deadlier variants of the virus.

Nigeria, with a population of over 200 million, has recorded 328 COVID-19 deaths out of 12,791 confirmed cases.

PSC Chairman Boss Mustapha and Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Ifedayo Adetifa stated this during the committee’s briefing in Abuja yesterday.

Mustapha, who is also the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, said government has noted that the spread of the deadly virus was not abating, but getting more virulent in some places.

For this reason, he explained that efforts had been revved up by NPHCDA to commence a mass roll-out of vaccines from Friday.

The SGF assured that NPHCDA has enough vaccines to meet the target of vaccinating half of the nation’s population.

His words: “The PSC has not briefed the nation for some time now, but we have been working and monitoring the trends around the world so that the national response can continue to be based on data, research, and experience.

“The situation is still challenging, hence, the need to continue to strictly adhere to the non-pharmaceutical intervention measures.

“We are currently seeing some surges in cases in some countries in Europe (especially Eastern Europe) due to under vaccination. In other territories where massive vaccinations have occurred, the infections are rising.

“What we see in Nigeria right now is that there is an increase in case fatality ratio, which calls for great concern.

Read also: Buhari warns world leaders, global health bodies against vaccines hoarding

“In our last briefing, we announced the Vaccine Mandate for December 1, 2021. I will like to state that this is in the best interest of Nigeria, looking at what is happening globally. We are gearing up to further engage with the Nigerian Governors’ Forum to push through the mass vaccination programme and mandate for our citizens.

“The vaccination phase is being accelerated and the NPHCDA has concluded arrangements to roll out a mass vaccination plan with effect from Friday, November 20, 2021.

“The PSC wishes to assure Nigerians that the NPHCDA has enough vaccines in the pipeline to vaccinate about 50 percent of the target population by the end of January 2022.

“Efforts are also ongoing to bring on board the booster dose so as to build a healthy level of anti-bodies.”

He also said that the PSC has reliable intelligence on the existence of an illegal vaccination certificate market in the country.

Mustapha said no vaccination certificate illegally procured would scale scrutiny.

The PSC boss added: “We have received intelligence and even detected that some unscrupulous citizens are procuring vaccination cards through the black market.

“Let me assure everyone that the vaccination records/certificates will be verified and this should serve as a warning to those criminally minded persons to desist because they will be prosecuted accordingly.”

Mustapha also added that the PSC was planning a three-day national summit to end the nine-month mandate of the PSC, beginning from December 6.

Adefila noted that while the Delta variant of the virus has compounded the pandemic in Nigeria, other countries are experiencing a surge in cases because of lack of adherence to safety measures and inadequate vaccination.

He said: “Although we have been spared the worst of COVID-19, if we do not sustain recommended measures to mitigate this SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, we will remain at high risk of the emergence of new and even more dangerous variants than the Delta variant.

“The virus is here and community transmission is occurring mostly silently but we should do all we can to prevent the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants capable of evading whatever immune protections we currently enjoy.

“Note that other countries have continued to experience sudden surges in cases as a consequence of the poor use of safety measures and inadequate vaccination.”

Minister of Health Osagie Ehanire said: “Majority of patients (67 percent) on admission in isolation wards have comorbidities like diabetes, hypertension obesity and other non-communicable diseases, which are known determinants of the severity of COVID-19 illness.”

 

The Chairman of the Ministerial Expert Advisory Committee on COVID-19, Prof. Oyewale Tomori, has cautioned the Federal Government to ensure that the over 140 COVID-19 laboratories across the country are functional.

He noted that about 60 laboratories in the network of laboratories under the supervision of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) are not reporting cases of the disease.

Agreeing with Tomori, President Muhammadu Buhari stressed that all of the government’s efforts to ramp up testing capacities across the country will come to naught without the laboratories being functional and productive.

Buhari made this known yesterday in Abuja, during the Regional Conference of the West African Post-Graduate College of Medical Laboratory Science (WAPCMLS), which inducted 120 elected fellows, with the theme: ‘Improving global health by strengthening laboratory capacity in Africa.’

Buhari, who was represented by the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, said: “When the first case was confirmed in Nigeria, in Lagos, in February, our public molecular laboratory inventory was just two. It was because of the diagnostic capacity that we had – even in those early stages – that made us have control and also confidence in that anxiety-laden first period of covid-19 pandemic. WHO did a very good job of training our scientists and improving our capacity to conduct tests and to get where we are today.

Read Also: Cholera deadlier than COVID-19, NCDC boss warns

“Our laboratory molecular assets have since then increased in both private and public spheres, while knowledge and skills to conduct testing has spread to hundreds of laboratory scientists around our country. This wide range expansion of our diagnostic capacity was one of the advantages and benefits that have helped us manage COVID-19 pandemic.

“I am in full agreement with what the Chairman of the Occasion, Professor Tomori has said, which I summarised as follows: no matter how many degrees we have, how many qualifications or laboratory we have, if you are not delivering what is expected out of it, we are not meeting the mark. Again, with all the assets, training and skills we have, we must dedicate ourselves to productivity.

“Government has provided funds for the establishment of laboratories in all federal tertiary institutions and research centres. Development partners have supported us, and I can see that we have strengthened our laboratory capacity more than we have ever been before in our history. We are going into genomic sequencing, we are engaging in research, and we are taking first steps in trying to produce vaccines.”

In his remarks, Prof. Tomori said: “It is true that when COVID-19 came, Nigeria had two laboratories. There is no need building laboratories if you cannot sustain them. I read the NCDC report every week, and realise that there are about 50 to 60 laboratories not reporting cases. What is the essence of having 140 laboratories while half are not working?

“We need to add an extra C to NCDC – National Coordinating Centre for Disease Control (NCCDC). Each state and local government should have its Disease Control instead of NCDC running helter-skelter.”

 

Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun has commenced mass vaccination of eligible persons against the Coronavirus disease, warning that after 60 days grace, unvaccinated people won’t be allowed in the markets, schools, public places and public transport facilities.

The 60 days ultimatum begins yesterday and ends December 31.

Abiodun said the state had concluded plans to vaccinate no fewer than two million residents before December 25, this year.

He added that this informed why vaccination centres had been increased from the initial 131 to 509.

At the ceremony, which took place at the Arcade Ground, State Government Secretariat, Oke-Mosan, which was attended by representatives of World Health Organisation (WHO) and pharmaceutical firm, Pfizer, many indigenes came forward to take the first dose of the vaccine.

Read Also: Lagos rolls out four million vaccination campaign

The governor noted that vaccination remains the best measure to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 and mortality in the event of infection.

He said: “We plan to vaccinate about two million people of our dear state in addition to those already vaccinated. We are increasing the vaccination sites from 131 to 509 across the 20 local government areas. This process will include the primary, secondary and tertiary health facilities and selected private hospitals.

“We will take this vaccination as parts of the health measures… This is because we cannot afford to lose our guard. We will ensure the vaccination processes adequately. I enjoined our people to embrace this mass vaccination towards ensuring their safety and well-being in this Covid-19.

“This also, we will demonstrate our seriousness, we are going to give a window to allow for this vaccine and that window start from today till the next 60 days. Anybody after 60 days that is not vaccinated will not be allowed in our offices and schools. Such person will not be allowed to do business with us. We will chase this person in our markets. You will be required to carry your vaccine card with you at all time.”