Any politicisation of COVID-19 origin tracing should be resisted, Maltese Foreign Minister Evarist Bartolo has said. Bartolo in a recent exclusive interview with Xinhua said “for us at the moment, definitely the enemy should be the pandemic, not each other. “We are at a very difficult stage, the pandemic is getting longer than we expected. New variants are approaching,’’ he said. Bartolo showed concern over the inequality of vaccination in the world, pointing out that Africa was suffering high infection rate but with extremely low vaccination rate. “This is a health crisis where if not all the world is safe,…
Author: Newsdesk
China has been striving to make COVID-19 vaccines more available in developing countries, and had already provided more than 770 million doses of vaccines and concentrates to the world. China ranked first in the world in terms of vaccines offered to the international community. “China will do its best to help developing countries cope with the COVID-19 pandemic,’’ President Xi Jinping said recently in a message to the first meeting of the International Forum on COVID-19 Vaccine Cooperation. China would strive to provide two billion COVID-19 vaccine doses to the world throughout this year, and offer 100 million U.S. dollars…
South Korea health authorities on Tuesday confirmed a total of 1,540 COVID-19 infections from people who tested positive after full vaccination. The number of the fully vaccinated people who were infected with COVID-19 was 1,540 as at Aug. 5, up from 1,132 a week earlier, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. It said the figure represented 23.6 per cent out of every 100,000 people. As of Aug. 5, the number of the fully inoculated people was 6,516,203. Among the total, 221 were infected with the Delta variant, 24 with Alpha, one with Beta and one with Gamma.…
Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama has summoned the Indonesian Ambassador to Nigeria over the alleged assault on a Nigerian Diplomatic Agent in Jarkarta, Indonesia. Onyeama in a statement in Abuja said that the unfortunate incident is against international law and the Vienna Conventions governing Diplomatic and Consular Relations between states. “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is in receipt of a report and has seen a video in circulation regarding an unacceptable incident in Jakarta, Indonesia concerning the manhandling and arrest of a Nigerian Diplomatic Agent in front of his official quarters on 7 August 2021. “The Nigerian government has complained strongly to…
Air quality in the Mongolian capital city of Ulan Bator has been deteriorating dramatically due to smoke from massive wildfires raging in Russia’s Siberia, authorities said on Monday. The Mongolian national agency for meteorology and environment monitoring said in a statement that air quality in the capital city had reached very unhealthy levels. “Today, the average density of PM 2.5 in the city stayed at 151.5 micrograms per cubic meter, which is 15 times above WHO exposure recommendation. “The northern and central parts of Mongolia, including the capital city, were covered with smokes since the middle of last week. “The…
By Abujah Racheal The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), says there is urgent need for states to strengthen Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) following the outbreak of cholera in the country. The NCDC Director-General, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu said this in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja. Ihekweazu noted that cholera had been exacerbated by poor access to clean water, open defecation, poor sanitation and hygiene. According to him, between January and August, 31,425 suspected cases of cholera with 311 confirmed cases and 816 deaths have been reported from 22 states and the FCT. He listed the affected states as Benue,…
A top UN official, Maria Viottim, says despite an overall decrease in maritime traffic due to the COVID-19 pandemic, piracy and armed robbery of ships rose by nearly 20 per cent first quarter, 2020. Viotti, UN Secretary-General’s Chef de Cabinet, told the Security Council on Monday that global response would be needed to counter the rising maritime security threats. Addressing a high-level debate on enhancing security for seafarers, Viotti highlighted the need for stronger international cooperation. “Incidents in Asia have nearly doubled, while West Africa, the Straits of Malacca and Singapore, and the South China Sea, are the most affected areas.…
As Cholera continues to ravage some communities in the country, Springs Aid Foundation has embarked on a door-to-door campaign to stem the spread of the disease in Bwari Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory. Mr Kenneth Chima, the President of the Foundation, during the campaign on Monday in Abuja, said that the essence of the campaign was to stem the cases of cholera. He said Bwari Area Council of the territory was declared an epic Centre of Cholera in January. “Over 69 persons have died due to cholera, with cases exceeding 1000. “So, we launched this door-to-door campaign to reach…
The Peoples Democratic Party Governors Forum (PDP-GF), which met on Monday, said it would continue its meeting on Tuesday with other stakeholders as part of efforts to resolve the leadership crisis rocking the party. The meeting was called following the resignation of seven national deputy officers of the party, who accused PDP National Chairman, Uche Secondus, of incompetence in handling the party’s affairs. The resigned officers are also demanding the resignation of Secondus as the party chairman. The Chairman of the forum and Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal on Monday disclosed this while briefing newsmen after the meeting of…
By Abujah Racheal Lagos state witnessed an upsurge in daily new COVID-19 cases as the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), reported additional 422 infections on Aug 9, 2021. The NCDC made this known via its verified website on Tuesday morning. It confirmed that the additional 422 cases were from nine states and the FCT. The agency said that Lagos state was standing at a dire inflection point, with the coronavirus cases surging and most of its population not yet fully vaccinated. Driving the latest wave was the highly contagious Delta variant with Lagos continuing to report more than half of…