Health
COVID-19 : Nigeria Records 594 Fresh Cases as Total Hits 22,614
Nigeria has announced 594 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 22,614.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) announced this on Thursday through its official Twitter handle.
NCDC said that the 594 new confirmed cases were from 22 states, with seven deaths as at Thursday.
The health agency said that no new state reported a case in the last 24 hours.
The NCDC said that Lagos reported the highest number of cases with 154 new cases while Delta was second with 106.
Others were Ondo-44, FCT-34, Edo-34, Oyo-33, Kaduna-33, Enugu-28, Katsina-25, Imo-22, Adamawa-15, Ogun-12, Osun-11, Abia-8, Rivers-6, Nasarawa-5, Bauchi-5, Niger-5, Kebbi-4, Ekiti-3,Plateau-1 and Taraba-1
The NCDC also said that till date, 22,614 cases had been confirmed, 14, 243 cases active, 7,822 cases treated and discharged, 122,155 samples collected while 549 deaths were recorded in 35 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
NCDC said in the absence of a vaccine to prevent COVID-19, Nigerians must focus on non-pharmaceutical interventions such as using face masks, physical distancing and frequent hand washing.
The Disease Centre said that loss of taste and smell was a symptom of COVID-19, and could also be for some other illnesses.
“It is important to get tested rather than self-medicate on the assumption that it is malaria,” it said.
NCDC also said that while cloth masks were convenient substitutes to medical masks they should not be worn by individuals who were at a high risk of complications.
The health agency further said that face shields were not sufficient to prevent transmission of COVID-19 and should therefore, be used in addition to face masks.
It observed that there had been an increased use of face shield by Nigerians, adding they were not to be used in place of face masks.
The Agency also clarified that the loss of smell or taste had been recognised globally as symptoms of COVID-19.
It noted that tbough there were few other diseases that would cause these symptoms, it was most likely that it was linked with an increasing incidence of COVID-19.
The NCDC urged citizens to adhere to public health measures and recognise the need to pay close attention to the elderly and those with underlying medical conditions as they were most vulnerable.
On private sector partnership to ramp up testing, the Agency said a lot of private sector laboratories had indicated interest and were playing a role already.
It added that Lagos had the highest number of private laboratories.
The NCDC, however, acknowledged that the process of accreditation was complicated and cumbersome for private sector operators, adding it was working with states to ramp up sample collection identified as a major challenge.
The NCDC also urged Nigerians to hold the NCDC and state governments responsible.
“We have provided testing infrastructure; by the end of tomorrow, we will roll out GeneXperts to seven states. Access to testing is no longer our cahllenge, but collecting samples,” it said.
The NCDC pointed out that testing was not the final solution, but an entry point to clinical care and public health management.(NAN)
Hundreds of millions of children and adolescents around the world face daily violence in their homes, schools, and elsewhere which could have lifelong consequences.The World Health Organisation (WHO) said this on Thursday.The violence includes being hit by family members, being bullied at school, as well as physical, emotional, and sexual violence, WHO said.
In most cases, violence occurs behind closed doors. More than half of those aged two to 17 or more than a billion minors in total experience violence each year according to the WHO. In three out of five children and adolescents, it is physical violence at home, with one in five girls and one in seven boys experiencing sexual violence.Between a quarter and half of minors are affected by bullying according to the information provided.Only half of the children reportedly talk about their experiences of violence and less than 10 per cent receive help.Lifelong consequences could include depression and anxiety disorders, or tobacco and drug use.As a result, many children do not reach their learning potential in school.Against the backdrop of being highly preventable, violence remains a horrific day-to-day reality for millions of children around the world leaving scars that span generations,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director general.The UN’s first conference on violence against children opened in Bogota, Columbia on Thursday.At the two-day conference, more than 100 countries pledged to find ways to better support overwhelmed parents and introduce school programmes against bullying and for healthy social behaviour.They also pledged to raise the minimum age for marriage.Some countries wish to generally ban children from being hit at school or home. (dpa/NAN)
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has listed 17 bacteria, viruses and parasites that regularly cause disease as top priorities for new vaccine development.WHO, in a study published on Tuesday, reconfirmed long-standing priorities for vaccine research and development (R&D), including for HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis – three diseases that collectively take nearly 2.
5 million lives yearly. The study is the first global effort to systematically prioritise endemic pathogens based on their regional and global health impact. Attention is also given to pathogens such as Group A streptococcus, which causes severe infections and contributes to 280,000 deaths from rheumatic heart disease, mainly in lower-income countries.Another new priority is Klebsiella pneumoniae — a bacteria that was associated with 790,000 deaths in 2019 and is responsible for 40 per cent of neonatal deaths due to blood infection (sepsis) in low-income countries.The new study supports the goal of ensuring that everyone, everywhere, can benefit from vaccines that protect against serious diseases.It aims to shift the focus in vaccine development away from commercial returns towards regional and global health needs, WHO’s Dr Mateusz Hasso-Agopsowicz, who works in vaccine research, said in a statement.He explained that in the past, vaccine R&D typically was influenced by profitability.“As a result, diseases that severely affect low-income regions received little attention.“We hope this represents a critical shift where we want to change the focus from commercial perspective profitability of new vaccines towards the actual health burden so that the new vaccine research and development is driven by health burden and not just commercial opportunities,” he said.To carry out the study, WHO asked international and regional experts what they think is important when prioritising pathogens for vaccines R&D.Criteria included deaths, disease and socioeconomic impact, or antimicrobial resistance.“We had asked experts that have expertise in pathogen epidemiology, clinicians, paediatricians, vaccine experts from all of the WHO regions, to ensure that the list and the results that we produce really reflect the needs of diverse populations worldwide,” Hasso-Agopsowicz said.Analysis of those preferences, combined with regional data for each pathogen, resulted in the top 10 priority pathogens for each of WHO’s six regions globally.The regional lists were then consolidated to form the global list, resulting in the 17 priority endemic pathogens for which new vaccines are urgently needed.To advance vaccine R&D, WHO has categorised each pathogen based on the stage of vaccine development and the technical challenges involved in creating effective vaccines.Hasso-Agopsowicz said the study is expected to guide future vaccine R&D investments, including funders, researchers and vaccine developers, and also policymakers as they “can decide whether to introduce these vaccines into immunisation programmes.” (NAN)
The Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU), University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan,has suspended the strike it embarked on Oct. 25.The workers resumed work on Friday morning.The seven-day nationwide warning industrial action embarked upon by the unions was to press home their demands ofadjustment of Consolidated Health Salary Structure as was done with the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure sinceJan.
2, 2014 and implementation of consultant cadre for pharmacists in federal health institutions. Others are upward review in the retirement age from 60 to 65 years for health workers and 70 years for consultants, andpayment of outstanding salaries of JOHESU members in professional regulatory councils.The UCH JOHESU Chairman, Mr Oladayo Olabampe, said that the strike was suspended as directed by the national body.He explained that “the suspension followed an MoU signed between JOHESU national leadership and Federal Government.“The Federal Government asked for a maximum of six weeks counting from Oct. 31, to meet our demands.“Based on the MoU signed, the JOHESU National Executive Council met and resolved that the strike be suspended on Fridaynationwide.”According to him, JOHESU UCH is obeying the order, and workers have resumed work.Olabampe said that if the demands were not met after the six weeks, they would embark on an indefinite strike. (NAN)
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