The World Health Organisation (WHO) says it is unlikely the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic will end in 2021. “I think it will be very premature and unrealistic to think that we are going to finish with this virus by the end of the year. “What we can finish with – if we are smart – is hospitalisations, deaths and the tragedy associated with this pandemic,’’ Mr Michael Ryan, Director of WHO’s health emergencies programme, said at a news conference on Tuesday. Ryan said that WHO’s focus at present was to keep transmissions as low as possible and vaccinate more and…
Author: Abdallah el-Kurebe
As expected, the 3.94 million doses of COVAX’s Oxford AstraZeneca, manufactured by Serum Institute of India (SII), has arrived. . The United Nations (UN) system disclosed this in a statement made available to newsmen on Tuesday. COVAX is co-led by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), working in partnership with UNICEF, the World Bank, civil society organisations, manufacturers and others. The UN system said the arrival marked a historic step towards the goal to ensure equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines globally, in what would be the largest vaccine procurement…
The Image Merchants Promotions (IMPR) Limited, publisher of both PRNigeria and Economic Confidential is ranked number one and identified as the most creative PR agency worldwide in the 2020 Global Creativity Index (GCI). The index, produced by PRovoke, formerly Holmes Report ranks the most awarded PR campaigns and firms in the world, weighting their impacts, while taking cognisance of their staff size. In ranking agencies against their peers, the weighted table is segmented along regional lines, producing top five rankings for North America, EMEA and Asia-Pacific. Image Merchants, which is not affiliated to any larger PR firm, is also ranked…
The federal government of Nigeria has launched an e-registration portal for COVID-19 vaccination as the country expects to take delivery of 3.92 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine today (Tuesday). The National Primary Health Care Development Agency, NPHCDA, launched the e-registration platform on Monday, for electronic management of the vaccination. The portal captures data and schedules individuals for vaccination and contains functionalities to retrieve vaccination certificates by the use of an PreVac/ Vaccination Number. The NPHCDA and Federal Ministry of Health launched the EMID system in Abuja under the T.E.A.C.H Strategy for COVID-19 vaccination. T.E.A.C.H. is an acronym for a 5-point…
The Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 says it is expecting three types of vaccines to cater to the needs of Nigerians. The Minister of State for Health, Sen. Olorunnimbe Mamora, gave the hint at the PTF briefing on COVID-19 on Monday in Abuja. Mamora said that Nigeria has the option to increase supply if need be. “For now, there will be no need for ungoverned private importation of vaccines,’’ the minister said. The minister said that vaccine deployment would be done by the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) until further notice. The minister that all manufacturers of…
President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed “overwhelming joy” over release of abducted female students of Government Girls Science Secondary School, Jangebe, in Zamfara. While reacting to the development in a statement by his spokesman, Malam Garba Shehu, in Abuja on Tuesday, the President said: “I join the families and people of Zamfara in welcoming and celebrating the release of these traumatized female students.” President Buhari said he was excited that their ordeal came to a happy end without any incident, adding that “being held in captivity is an agonizing experience not only for the victims, but also their families and all of…
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) says the power sector has recorded an all-time national peak of 5,615.40MW. A statement issued on Tuesday in Lagos by Ms Ndidi Mbah, General Manager, Public Affairs, TCN, said the new record was achieved on Feb. 28. The statement said the power generated was efficiently transmitted through the nation’s transmission grid at a frequency of 50.20Hz by 9.30pm on the said date. According to the statement, this transmission surpassed the previous peak generation of 5,593 40MW which occurred on Feb. 25 by 22.0MW. It said : “Also, on Feb.26, 2021, TCN equally transmitted a…
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has announced eight deaths and 360 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of deaths to 1,915 and infections to 156,017 in the country. The NCDC disclosed this on its official Twitter handle on Monday. The 360 infections marked an increase from Sunday’s report of 240 in the country. The NCDC said that the new infections were reported across 18 states and the Federal Capital Territory. “One hundred and twenty (120) of the new cases were reported in Lagos, 38 in Edo, 25 in Kaduna, 23 cases each in FCT and Imo…
President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo will pick dates on which they will be vaccinated publicly, with the first batch of Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, which is about four million doses, expected to arrive in Nigeria on Tuesday. The Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Faisal Shuaib, disclosed this at the Presidential Taskforce on COVID-19 briefing on Monday in Abuja. Shuaib said that the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and chairman of the PTF on COVID-19, Mr. Boss Mustapha, would liaise with other key strategic persons to fix the date for the public…
One of the victims of last Friday’s Zamfara Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe, abduction, Hafsat Anka, said the captives threatened to kill, fry and eat them if they misbehaved. Hafsat, while narrating her ordeal at the Government House, Gusau, shortly after regaining freedom, stated that they trekked over a long distance from the school, had a stopover for some hours before they reached their destination. “There was no clean water or good food, and we felt we had already spent years even though it was our first day and the bandits kept firing into the air to scare us. “They…