By Martin Paul, Abuja

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said yesterday that over $30 billion would be needed globally over the next year to speed up the development and production of COVID-19 tests, vaccines and treatments.

The global body said: “The costed plans presented today call for $31.

This revelation was made ahead of a major pledging event in Brussels in support of the ACT accelerator, set to take place today.

Special envoy for the ACT accelerator, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala , said at the virtual briefing that “this is an investment worth making If we don’t rally now, the human costs and the economic pains will deepen.

“Though these numbers sound big, they are not when we think of the alternative. If we spend billions now, we will be able to avoid spending trillions later. “The time to act is now, and the way to act is together.”

Her observation came as the world counts nearly 490,000 deaths from COVID-19 and over 9.6 million cases since the new coronavirus emerged in China late last year.

 She noted that the funds requested should make it possible “to deliver 500 million tests and 245 million courses of treatment to low and middle-income countries by mid-2021.

They also aim to deliver two billion vaccine doses by the end of next year, of which half will go to low and middle-income nations.

WHO boss, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at the briefing:  “It’s clear that to bring COVID-19 under control, and to save lives, we need effective vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics in unprecedented quantities and at unprecedented speed”.

 “Separate teams are racing to roll out reliable tests, find safe and effective vaccines and treatments for the novel coronavirus, and prepare for large-scale manufacturing”, he said.

He, however, stressed that a core principle of the initiative is to ensure equal access for all.

“Vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics are vital tools, but to be truly effective they must be administered with another essential ingredient, which is solidarity”, Ghebreyesus said.

Abia Residents Adamant Over Virus – Health Commissioner

Meanwhile, Abia state Commissioner for Health, Dr Joe Osuji, has lamented that the major problem confronting the fight against COVID-19 in the state is people’s disbelief that the virus is real.

Osuji made the observation yesterday with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Umuahia.

The commissioner regretted that the people rather believed that the state government was using it to collect money from the Federal Government or donor agencies.

“But it is not true. The truth is that COVID-19 is real and it has come to stay with us. So we have to be extremely careful in its containment,” he said.

He said that a lot of people were being tested now following the installation of COVID-19 test laboratory in the state.

The commissioner said that four testing machines had already been installed, while 16 more would be installed by next week.

NAN reports that the machines were installed during the week at the General Hospital, Amarachara, one of the testing centres in the state.

“Since we have a testing centre, the other one will be ready by next week at Aba, we can now take samples anyhow and test anyhow and collect our results immediately,” he said.

Osuji ruled out the possibility of random testing as suggested by some people, saying that patients had to be examined before the sample collection.

“We are having cases now in the state because we are testing a lot of people now,’’ he said.

Chinese company donates items to UBTH

In a related development,  a  Chinese firm operating in Benin City, Edo state, Yongxing Steel Company, yesterday donated several COVID-19 management equipment to the University of Benin Teaching Hospital.

The donation is to encourage medical doctors and health workers managing COVID-19 patients to continue to do their best in managing the crisis.

Public Relations Officer of the company, Isaac Olufemi, said the essence was to make sure COVID-19 patients were given better treatment.

“UBTH is a major place where COVID -19 patients are isolated and treated. That is why we donated this anti-virus materials to them.

 “We are not just doing it for fun, we are doing it because people are coming here to receive treatment and many of them don’t have money. UBTH is where most of our staff received treatment. Our aim is to work with them because this is where the isolated centre is located. Is a fight for one, and one for all”, he said.

Items donated included face masks, protective gloves, protective clothing, thermometer, hand sanitizers, disinfectant and others. 

Isaac said the company has also donated similar equipment to several organizations, communities and groups across the state adding that the company would continue to do more to check the spread of the virus.

The Chief Medical Director of UBTH, Prof. Darlington Obaseki, commended the company for the donation of the materials, saying: “We really appreciate these goods and equipment donated to us by Yongxing Steel Company.

“This will help to protect our patients and staff. We see it as part of corperate social responsibility and we want other corperate organizations and individuals to emulate Yongxing Steel company. “We want to assure you that these anti-virus materials would be put to proper use for the benefit of our patients and staff”.