₦airaland Forum

How much pls

clemils1:
Xbox 360 wireless and wired pad available at giveaway process. No longer in need of it. Hit me up if interested

The Africa Cup of Nations is being "disrespected" by some negative media coverage, says former England and Arsenal striker Ian Wright.

The 24-team competition begins on 9 January and will feature a host of Premier League and European stars.

Crystal Palace manager Patrick Vieira is among those to also call for the tournament to be given more respect.

"Is there ever a tournament more disrespected than the Africa Cup of Nations?" Wright said on Instagram.

On the media coverage around Afcon he claimed: "There is no greater honour than representing your country. The coverage is completely tinged with racism.

"We played our Euros across 10 countries in the middle of a pandemic and there's no issue at all. But Cameroon, a single country hosting a tournament, is a problem.

"There are players getting asked if they will be honouring the call-ups to their national teams. Imagine if that was an England player representing the Three Lions. Can you imagine the furore?"

More at https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/59825904

Sorry I didn't want to reply your comment but I just have to correct these impression that christians are not critical thinkers. The whole western society was found on Christianity,so what has changed?oh it has served its purpose so let discard and move on to something beta.besides how did u com to that conclusion that I am one(nothing wrong with been one anyway).why do u confer higher intelligence to yourself than a Christian?

bayonet:
I hope you know policies are meant to be changed, just like paliarments in every country change their laws year in year out.

Going by what you are saying, they should have allowed the whole world to keep dying rather than approve a vaccine under an emergency policy to accommodate it.

Do you also understand that science has leapt a long distance forward since polio days?

You want to site a link you are siting Christianity dailies for me, now I know where your challenge lies.

This is a lie and either you know this or you are hiding it. This thing will neva qualify as a vaccine under the polio and other we know of. The definition of vaccine was changed last September for this tin to fit as vaccine https://www.citizensjournal.us/the-cdc-suddenly-changes-the-definition-of-vaccine-and-vaccination/
https://www.christianitydaily.com/articles/13341/20210921/cdc-and-who-redefine-vaccine-and-herd-immunity-to-manipulate-people-into-getting-the-jabs.htm

Note vaccine where meant to confer immunity but it's changed to protection now cos this tin is not

bayonet:
It is a VIRUS, not a bacteria nor fungi, Viruses are so weird you will think they have brains, when you attack a virus, it will learn from it will learn and build and strengthen it's own weakness and keep fighting and multiplying at a geometric progression.

Was Arteta Vaccinated at any point? I do not think so because he never mentioned if he was vaccinated or not.

Being vaccinated doesn't mean you should go around licking hand rails and sucking out saliva out of people's mouth. The vaccine gives you a good fighting chance against the virus, that's the whole point of all vaccines, vacvines are not for cures, they are for prevention from severe symptoms.

Friend,you are not supposed so question them then you are labelled ignorant, unintelligent, conspiracy theorist. It's doesn't add up logically but they are still supporting and pushing it,it defies logic but they call it science these day. More people have already died of the virus in US with vaccine within a shorter time frame than last year without the vaccines but you can't ask why cos the vaccine is the only magic bullet. Truth will and must prevail just that lives would already been lost before then that's the problem with truth sometimes

efficiencie:
Why is the research silent about the cause of death of the 80% of the deaths? If the effects of COVID extend beyond recovery then why are fewer deaths due to respiratory complications? Why is the study silent on how they distinguished between mild and severe COVID?

More questions, not necessarily related to the results of the study. Why is the vaccine always pushed as a silver bullet against COVID? Why hasn't promising drugs that could prevent and treat COVID been researched in clinical trials? Why haven't vaccine related deaths been studied despite the availability of data?

COVID news are more political than scientific and that is why I remain sceptical of the "opinions" of so called "experts" on this matter.

Well said,most of the so called scientific minds around this covid n "vaccine" are totally off and people still believe them. If you are infected and recover that automatically means you have acquired the immunity unless they have changed that definition too. The tin with the "vaccine" is it doesn't contain the pathogen so the "vaccine" can neva give you immunity to the virus but protection. Matter of fact those that have and recovered av immunity than those with the vaccines alone.
Anyway there are studies saying we may need 2 to 3 shots yearly - they are slowly laying ground work on this.https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/dec/30/up-to-three-covid-jabs-a-year-could-be-needed-for-protection-data-suggests
The question I keep asking all those for the "vaccine" is this how humans will now be living our lives?is this perfectly OK now like junkies?for a disease that's on record 99.8% recoverable if you healthy.is this how polio,measles and other vaccine we took how they work and administered.
Something is not right and people still think it's ok

JustforMen:
I have read this study and my view is that it is arrant nonsense and counter intuitive to the concept of vaccination and immunity.
The general consensus in the scientific community is that when one is exposed to a virus, germ etc, and recovers, the human body produces some form of natural immunity at varying degrees to fight future occurrences of the same pathogen.
Immunity is your body’s ability to protect you from getting sick when you are exposed to an infectious agent (“germ”) such as a bacterium, virus, parasite or fungus.

Immunity is a complex process that involves a lot of moving parts. Your body produces a variety of different cells that fight invading germs. Some of these release special proteins called antibodies into your blood stream. These antibody producing cells can “remember” a particular germ so they can detect its presence if it returns and produce antibodies to stop it.
I know that this is not always applicable at the same level for all diseases.
To my untrained understanding, this is the concept of vaccination and anti-serum.
On this Corona issue, the vaccination apostles seem to cleverly avoid mentioning the concept of natural immunity completely.
IT IS UNCOMFORTABLY SUSPICIOUS!
The Amish community in the US used the concept of natural immunity to become the first and only group to achieve HERD IMMUNITY in the world. The are exempted from the vaccination drive.
Now when you tell me that your study shows that people who have recovered from the virus are more likely to die, IT IS COUNTER INTUITIVE to scientific precedence and logic.
I am afraid these suspicious pronouncements and forceful vaccination drives appear to be suspicious.
You ask yourself, what is the agenda here?
I am an open objective mind on most issues so I welcome anybody who is more informed on this issue to clarify my doubts.
Because the whole thing is looking more suspicious by the day and it is driving more people to scepticism which my jeopardize the goal of ridding the world of the virus.
If you add the fact of the controversy around the origin of the virus and the fact that the united States government is providing the funding to the Wuhan Lab then things begin to stink even to an objective mind.
Mek una help me understand this matter, Biko.

What a tragedy,so it's Africa custom so it must b useless and poor as well - wow. And this post gathered 100+ likes what a disaster. this slave mentality has to die pls.
Whatever,somtin is wrong with your wife - pulling a knife? Is this new or somtin that occur every now and then?anyway it's wife' mom that shud av come in the first place dats how I understand it. To avoid all this stories that touch.

Vickyvice:
my brother forget this omugwo yeye philosophy wey poor people invent. My sisters are married and given birth, but my mum no go. She just arrange baby accessories,,, clothes, toys, and their soaps, powder, foods and fill their kitchen with assorted foods, by waybill them abroad,. What's omugwo? Na low mentality slang. Like say we be low grade family, na so my mum go mumu leave her lecturing work wey she even dey look for more time to conclude research, dey urge to go abroad for omugwo, as if she's the first mother in law in d world, or na she be the first grandmum on earth, I hate to hear this useless term,,, omugwo. Africa and their useless mentality. It's is devised to attempt control the husband.

You see my people this is what the wicked power in high places have achieved. How can one compare treating a malaria with a vaccine. It's a tragedy that vaccine has been belittled,brought
to this level and destroyed just to fit their agenda.they even redefine the definition so the gene editing solution can fit as a vaccine in the middle of the game(pandemic) https://www.citizensjournal.us/the-cdc-suddenly-changes-the-definition-of-vaccine-and-vaccination/ and people think this is OK. The only problem here is that the truth must prevail jus that the damage would or had been done by then

davodyguy:
Why treat Malaria, when another mosquito bite can give you same Malaria?

Becos it's a coordinated scam,people just don't want to believe they(we) are bin played. Whatever, truth must and will prevail only thing is that the damage has already bin done.

chaloskyx:
What i dont get is all this while omicron has been in Naija o the cases have been low but immediately the west and who announced on the media that African countries carry another variant then the cases suddenly went up. My question is if they were actually monitoring covid cases how come they never noticed the spike until the foreign media branded a new variant on Africa. seems the whole virus is actually being controlled by the media rather than researches

Correction: nothing is going to stop you from having feeling for random people it's how we are designed, marriage doesn't and will neva change your(our) nature that's where your self control comes in that's why you av to be matured enough to recognise this and draw a line that's y we are humans - we control our hormones not the other way round. So there's nothing wrong with you or any married person having feeling for som random person.
Plus marriage doesn't change anyone people make that decision to b a better person marriage may force you but marriage doesn't magically change anyone mayb that's y most assume its a scam cos you(we) av bin made to see it that way.Open you mind

Broveens42:
I noticed something on this forum.
If a guy had made that comment, a good number of people would support the fact that marriage is a scam. But because it's coming from a lady...Lol

Marriage is really a scam regardless because if it wasn't, you won't have feelings or lust for random people at one point of your married life or the other.

Ttalk:
Make una kuku say make we die

Exchange rate increased by 150%

Fuel increased by 85%

Kerosene by 60%

Diesel by 55%

Rice 100%

Beans 80%

Cooking gas 250%

Import duty 80%

Electricity bill 120%

Garri 100%

Bandits 1000%

Kidnapping 80%

Herdsmen clashes and farm grazing
200%

Tfare 150%

Now tell me what is left to survive

Main while minimum wages is paltry 18,000

Nigerians we are tougher than crocodile skin,more lives than a cat and never dying like roaches.
We are great,e no ez bin a Nigerian

https://tv.gab.com/channel/trunews/view/uk-funeral-director-reports-on-the-61b12a634dc37d82fa7edee4

https://citizenfreepress.com/breaking/middlebury-college-declares-covid-emergency-99-of-students-are-vaccinated/

Krismas:
pls sir can u share the link of the video with me? Thanks

Max Verstappen secured his first Formula One world championship with victory at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. After a tense and highly controversial season decider at Yas Marina he beat his title rival Lewis Hamilton into second on the very last lap of the season after the pair had gone into the race level on points.

It was once more a straight head-to-head battle between the two at the front but where Verstappen and Red Bull proved to have the edge at the very death, leaving their rivals furious.....

Leave these people when people were saying keep Trump as their economy was booming no they said Trump is the problem but the solution is som1 who has been part of the problem for near 50years. Now Americans are crying over inflation n hardship,this one is now trying to justify ours cos America is experiencing same. If America a dying we too must die

udemzyudex:
Here we go again, they will always look for something to justify nonsense.

Oga the thing is if you have sex starvation in your home it is a symptom of somtin deeper. The disease itself is still there, its either you or your wife that has an issue that you guys havent understand yet. try search for it honestly cos it may actually be you. I dont see true love creating something that will lead to destruction it should lead to something better.

Gaggii:
I must confess, the only challenge in my marriage is sex, I was not a masturbator as a bachelor because I have girls around me, if one no come another go show, but as a married man have turned a chronic masturbator because my wife is always complaining that she is tired.

I would gotten a side chick, but I had a second thought because the consequence will affect my home financially.

Am just so fed up.

If you are married and in same shoe, how have you being coping

This woman, Godwin Emefeli and Buhari have completely destroyed this country. They are so outrageously incompetent and they are destroying lives. these guys are going to the deepest part of hell with all the wickedness they are taking Nigerians through.

BeeBeeOoh:
https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2021/12/08/covid-19-may-force-11m-nigerians-into-poverty-by-2022-says-minister/

So here is the thing am agreeing with you on most things and they are true yea. We don't keep records,we are never serious. We can't do dat volume of test cos we cant afford it. A single test is more than the minimum wage here.
Am in a school of thought that believe is not about the number of cases but death mayb dats y ain't too into test. Beside we now have massive millions asymptomatic people walking around randomly but dey say they are vaccinated. B4 the vaccine these asymptomatic people where dreaded but its OK now I suppose.
Look my point is people over here are dying
From covid but it's not at the rate over there it's a fact and that's the reality.since u av bin in medicine u can agree with me som diseases affect som race than other,same as gender and age. Maybe covid is more virulent to white or temperate climes. Maybe it's an old age disease like you yourself confirm. The question is what are we doing right and why is vaccine only solution to this problem?why is natural immunity completely ignore?we cannot continuously inject billions,humans ain't junkies its not realistic n unsustainable

idolda:
So you believe only 1k people died in Nigeria due to Covid-19 related case? Lol. Maybe the 1k is those who have confirmed cases and are held in isolation centres. Nigeria has no reliable data trust me (I'm a health personnel and worked in Nigeria health sector for over 10yrs) and I can tell you that. Nigeria doesn't test citizens for Covid-19. A small country like UK for instance with a total population of 67million has conducted over 370million Covid-19 test, Nigeria on the other hand with a population of over 200million has not even conducted up to 4million Covid-19 test.

If you don't test people, how will you know they have Covid-19? Where will you get reliable data to use? In Nigeria people die due to covid related complications but they are not tested or reported but in Western countries every sick and most healthy people are tested for Covid-19. And it is a criminal offence (they treat that person like a thief who rob bank) to bury someone without reporting and registering the death

Again I agree with you age population thing and they do hype this alot.
But again why must we believe that our average age life expectancy is in the 40s or maybe close to 50s study as accurate n why do most disregard our covid date as wrong,why?why should we copy a solution from som1 that's already practising it with over 400k death and we have over 1000 deaths,is it logical?doesn't it point to their us somtin dey no doing right or there's somtin we doun rit?y wud u copy and f9 candidate if u r a c candidate.
Again age population is jus 1 of the factors not all but I wish dey would really com study Africa since our people are completely docile

idolda:
I just dropped part of the reasons in my response to oakinshield. Here is the summary of the Reasons:
Covid-19 is mostly killing the elderly and Africa doesn't have much aged population like Western countries.

Secondly, westerners and their media value lives and always take extreme caution. For instance my child finished eating in school and immediately ran to join his colleagues to play football. Because he just finished eating without resting before joining them, he vomited. We were called to come and pick him despite him explaining what happened to them, they said they have to exercise caution. When I got there the head teacher confirmed he was ok but I still need to take him home and observe him for 2 days at home and if nothing happened after 2 days he can resume school. That is how they are they hype things especially when they are not yet sure they want to put in place extreme measures and assume the worse which is quite alien to us in Nigeria

Like some posted here "Nigeria is a crime scene with yellow tape around it".
GOD have mercy on us.

lalasticlala:
According to AyaDeji:

"Avoid Ogunnusi road, Berger area. Trailer killed 15 kids few minutes ago and the people have blocked the road. Heavy traffic too. Apparently it was Lastma/V10 pursuing a trailer and the guy ran into school kids coming out of school."

See earlier thread https://www.nairaland.com/6884936/trailer-crushes-10-school-children

Agree with you on omicron very much here 100% who Eva that is disputing that not facing reality,whatever future variant dey Eva find out we already have it.
But the tin is we av live with this tin for like 2 years now officially can u personal say this thing is deadly to us seriously let forget propaganda and news outlet.look around u in 9ja and say covid is devastating here.av neva bin to ladipo b4 until recently my God if covid is a tin half of dat market will b gone,plus miles market. Why are these market still busting with human activities with virtual disregard to covid after 2years.
Why do we av to keep testing for covid?why then did we stop testing for malaria when we have average over 200 deaths daily from malaria?is dying from malaria ok and dying from covid not.why does the US have more death this year under a shorter time than last year plus vaccine,why is it OK to have more deaths even with vaccine available?even if the vaccine is effective why is it OK to have 6billion plus human on reoccurring injection every 3-6 months,why?for a disease that is 99.7% recovery rate for any healthy human. Covid is real but there's somtin going on here that's beyond logic

idolda:
Reading some comments above make me feel so sorry for the future of the country considering that these are made by the youths which are the leaders of tomorrow. We love to live in denials. I understand the mistrust for the govt but that doesn't erase the fact on ground that the Omicron variant is widespread in Nigeria already. The fact that Nigeria isn't actively testing and massively sequencing samples doesn't erase that fact omicron is in the country.

2 people who arrived in Canada from Nigeria tested positive to Omicron

21 people from Nigeria who arrived UK testd positive to Omicron

A student from Nigeria who newly arrived in Sydney Australia tested positive to Omicron variant

Ghana Health Minister saaid 28% of new arrivals from Nigeria and South Africa are testing positive to Omicron variant
The above news and more lend credence to the assertion that the omicron variant is already circulating in Nigeria.

Rather than accept this fact and take measures to protect ourselves we kept on screaming it is a scam. People are dying due to Covid-19 in Nigeria yet we kept on denying it because we don't have access to testing which is readily available in other saner climes.

So i don't know much about the flu but the malaria is not a virus but a parasite, they are kind of different. However, malaria mortality is till very high in Nigeria, kills an average of 216 Nigeria daily from this article https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/nov/08/nigeria-unlikely-to-reach-impossible-covid-vaccine-target "Malaria kills an average of 216 Nigerians a day, according to the minister of health, Dr Osagie Ehanire", so you can see how much we really need to focus on Malaria not covid.
From information coming out of SA not what these news station are spreading, its symptoms are mild which means the virus is on its way becoming a "successful organism". Successful organism donot kill their host but live symbiotically or mutually with their host. But hey they just want to keep the panic going and shut Africa out. I believe this is what is happening now

tundess:
I would like to know how many flu or malaria variants there are and how their lethality compares ? Every Yr flu shots are given. Are the shots new or same as previous yrs ?
It was inevitable that a highly mutable virus will evade current vaccines. My fear is that the virus acquires genes of more fatal viral/bacterial genomes (antigenic drift, recombination etc) and bodies start piling up.

My brother the thing for bloody for us but God is fair. Maybe all the churches and mosques we have over here are working you never know.

But seriously we THANK GOD

Bigchristo:
When Virus first emerged in Wuham China it took the world leaders almost 1yr and some months to start imposing travel bans but a new variant of same virus was found in Africa ooo the world is swinging into action in Banning Africans from traveling to their countries, that speaks volume of how the world sees African, its time for us to wake up and stop depending on these people for our entire existence because they literally do not want us regardless of how much they tried to hide such from their words but their actions indicated all signs, thank God we are somehow immune to the virus if not e for bloody for our side.

Must everything b conspiracy theory pls.
So here is your submission rephrased "most people dying from polio are fully vaccinate because almost everyone has been vaccinate",pls how is this for a logic.
To b clear am not againt this treatment it's forcing it that's defying logic. If u vulnerable go take it

PoliteActivist:
Did you read the article or you just interested in conspiracy? Most people who die are vaccinated because almost every one is vaccinated

This doesn't fit the narrative, they have already run away with the news that it's the unvaccinated that are creating the mutation and people are buying it.e b like say na jazz these guys jazz human mind,matter of fact they don't even hide it again https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/commentisfree/2021/jun/27/why-most-people-who-now-die-with-covid-have-been-vaccinated but still they are forcing people

malcom1X:
The Botswana government has reported that the new South African variant was initially detected in FULLY you VACCINATED PATIENTS

But that is where the problem is these day (submit = slavery)and I don't think most will agree with you.
You are perfectly right with you submission

Belteshazzar1:
Chai understanding differs
Honestly any man who beats her girl while dating her, will do more than that when they are married. What you are seeing during dating is chiefly what you will have after marriage.
Sometimes we become so adamant to understand clear signs that will lead to our freedom. Thinking that receiving beating from a man you love is what you deserve, then I'm sorry one day he will kill you.
I do know that a precious creation like women are to be loved, cared, respected and listen to. This can be possible when there is submission first from the woman to man he loves; and the man is expected to also fulfill his duty and love her.

Wow this is so rich . Everything you wrote make so much sense. Its crazy where am told speaking my own language means am an illiterate, it doesn't make any sense.where am told it's the left hand u should use to put the food in your mouth. Where our traditions n culture a term fetishism.
Africa must wake up!!!
Like mugabe said(u don't av to like him tho) "we must think Africa"

darichlife:
Oh Africa see what the white man's greed and hunger for domination has done to us, see the evil, wickedness and lack of value we no longer have for ourselves and who we are. We accepted to live our lives based on the rationalization of another cultural experiences life. Sometimes i cry bitterly that total strangers gave us a means to interface with nature therefore demeaning the potentials of our true nature as designed by the Almighty, i battle with the African me and the European me even in my dreams, i have never spoken my language in my dreams, i hate that am a victim of Colonialism, i hate that i must speak it to be better than my brother who only speak his mother tongue, i hate the things they made me believe in that my language is an inferior language, i hate that my ability to master another mans language is the means that will only show how educated i am.
Will i ever connect with real me in totality and think how nature designed me to dominate and subdue the earth?
Am sad in this loop. GOOOOOOOD

Yea i stated there is no proper study why its virtually very mild here.

Its either no covid in africa (Nigeria) which i know there is covid here or maybe we acquired the immunity to it spiritually since there's no study.

anyway see below why the scientist are still baffled and never want to invest in finding out the truth in Africa

https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-science-health-pandemics-united-nations-fcf28a83c9352a67e50aa2172eb01a2f

TMKsouth:
If there's no study how do u know herd immunity has been reached?

This is a big lie.

Covid has already run its course in Nigeria and we have achieved herd "natural" immunity but nobody want to do the study. We will continuously be experiencing mild form of covid here. the question is how did we achieve this with virtually no "vaccination"

Here is a UK publication

https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/commentisfree/2021/jun/27/why-most-people-who-now-die-with-covid-have-been-vaccinated

TMKsouth:
Yeah, 96% recovery rate

Vaccination rate stands at 24% despite dumping AstraZeneca and having long delays waiting for J&J and Pfizer. Now there's an oversupply of vaccines in SA - we asked pharmaceuticals to halt exporting for a while.

Noticed Nigeria only sitting on 1,7% vaccination rate. If this new SA variant indeed is the most transmissible and worst yet much of Africa will be in big trouble with these dismal vaccination rates.

No vaccine is 100% we all agree but this thing is not really a vaccine. I believe they went with calling it a vaccine as that is what most are comfortable and relate with. The thing doesnt contain the covid pathogen that should stimulate your natural defense mechanism matter of fact its bypassing it and acting to reduce its severity. which i thought was bad before the advent of these "vaccine",the so called asymtomatic individuals where derided way back then but now that the vaccine basically makes you asymptomatic its ok. so you can carry the virus and spread as vaccinated and it ok. but its not ok anyway, thats why they are still asking you to mask up and social distance after taking the "vaccine". Why is natural immunity under attacked and never get a sniff?
This thing is not vaccine but gene editing therapy
https://guardian.ng/opinion/what-to-know-about-the-covid-19-vaccine/

passion007:
So?

Which vaccine ever claimed to be 100% effective?

From the very beginning, it was established that the vaccine will prevent severe disease especially among those vulnerable.
No scientist ever said that once you're vaccinated, you'll never get covid. God knows where you read that from.

Well it all depends on what u value most. Do u value wot u c than wot u don't c?remember marriage is not a sprint but a marathon can u visualise dis person 20 - 30 years from now. Are u matured enof to bear responsibility n b tolerant cos its not b age?I can c u wan to rush, nothing wrong with dat but u av shorten u window again plus u age(according to u o)
I wud advise u travel around abit around d country so u get a beta perspective. Above all choose what u can't c over wot u c. Get knowledge n get wisdom.

oldienavie:
I clocked 36 years 2 months ago, I look fit for my age compared to many Nigerians(I realised most Nigerians dont pay attention to their physical fitness).
I have been outside of the country and just got back with the aim of trying to get a wife.
Am I too old to expect to find a decent woman ?
What suggestions do you have with regards to getting a good woman in the shortest possible time ?
Thanks all.

Was ever any wave in the first place.

I (we) use God to beg this people not to copy what's obviously not working from the white please we are begging ejoor

iwaeda:
The Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, has raised the alarm over the imminent fourth wave of the COVID-19 in Nigeria.

Abayomi, at a briefing on Friday, said passengers coming into the country from high-burdened countries may likely increase the spread of the virus.

He said, “Many Nigerians staying abroad will be returning home to celebrate Christmas with their families. Most of these people will be coming from countries where there is a heavy burden of COVID-19 and where we know the virus is changing and mutating.

“The potential drivers of a fourth wave in Lagos and Nigeria are passengers arriving, especially from heavy-burdened countries in Europe and the United States into Lagos. 86 per cent of all inbound flights into Nigeria come through Lagos.

“It is only inevitable that if passengers are travelling in large numbers from these countries where they are about to experience a fourth and fifth wave, we should expect some activities in Lagos as a result of these movements. At the current rate of the response across the country, we are likely going to encounter a fourth wave of the COVID19 pandemic in December 2021.”

The commissioner lamented the low vaccination rate in Nigeria, saying many countries had vaccinated more than 50 per cent of their eligible populations.


“The other problem we have in Lagos and Nigeria is that our rate of vaccinations has been quite low; it is just below three per cent, whereas our target should be over 40 per cent. Many countries around the world have exceeded 50 per cent vaccination of eligible populations.

“At the current rate of the response across the country, we are likely going to encounter a fourth wave of the COVID19 pandemic in December 2021. Lagos State has only vaccinated about 2.6 per cent of its population, leaving it susceptible to a fourth wave. Fully vaccinated people with a vaccine breakthrough infection are less likely to develop serious illness than those who are unvaccinated and get COVID-19

“About 360 health facilities have so far been identified for the administration of the vaccines in the next phase of Lagos State’s vaccination campaign. Of this number, 225 are public facilities, while 135 are private facilities,” he said.

https://punchng.com/covid-19-fourth-wave-imminent-lagos-commissioner-warns/

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — At a busy market in a poor township outside Harare this week, Nyasha Ndou kept his mask in his pocket, as hundreds of other people, mostly unmasked, jostled to buy and sell fruit and vegetables displayed on wooden tables and plastic sheets. As in much of Zimbabwe, here the coronavirus is quickly being relegated to the past, as political rallies, concerts and home gatherings have returned.

“COVID-19 is gone, when did you last hear of anyone who has died of COVID-19?” Ndou said. “The mask is to protect my pocket,” he said. “The police demand bribes so I lose money if I don’t move around with a mask.” Earlier this week, Zimbabwe recorded just 33 new COVID-19 cases and zero deaths, in line with a recent fall in the disease across the continent, where World Health Organization data show that infections have been dropping since July.

When the coronavirus first emerged last year, health officials feared the pandemic would sweep across Africa, killing millions. Although it’s still unclear what COVID-19’s ultimate toll will be, that catastrophic scenario has yet to materialize in Zimbabwe or much of the continent.

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Scientists emphasize that obtaining accurate COVID-19 data, particularly in African countries with patchy surveillance, is extremely difficult, and warn that declining coronavirus trends could easily be reversed.

But there is something “mysterious” going on in Africa that is puzzling scientists, said Wafaa El-Sadr, chair of global health at Columbia University. “Africa doesn’t have the vaccines and the resources to fight COVID-19 that they have in Europe and the U.S., but somehow they seem to be doing better,” she said.

Fewer than 6% of people in Africa are vaccinated. For months, the WHO has described Africa as “one of the least affected regions in the world” in its weekly pandemic reports.

Some researchers say the continent’s younger population -- the average age is 20 versus about 43 in Western Europe — in addition to their lower rates of urbanization and tendency to spend time outdoors, may have spared it the more lethal effects of the virus so far. Several studies are probing whether there might be other explanations, including genetic reasons or past infection with parasitic diseases.

On Friday, researchers working in Uganda said they found COVID-19 patients with high rates of exposure to malaria were less likely to suffer severe disease or death than people with little history of the disease.

“We went into this project thinking we would see a higher rate of negative outcomes in people with a history of malaria infections because that’s what was seen in patients co-infected with malaria and Ebola,” said Jane Achan, a senior research advisor at the Malaria Consortium and a co-author of the study. “We were actually quite surprised to see the opposite — that malaria may have a protective effect.”

Achan said this may suggest that past infection with malaria could “blunt” the tendency of people’s immune systems to go into overdrive when they are infected with COVID-19. The research was presented Friday at a meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

Christian Happi, director of the African Center of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases at Redeemer’s University in Nigeria, said authorities are used to curbing outbreaks even without vaccines and credited the extensive networks of community health workers.

“It’s not always about how much money you have or how sophisticated your hospitals are,” he said.

Devi Sridhar, chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh, said African leaders haven’t gotten the credit they deserve for acting quickly, citing Mali’s decision to close its borders before COVID-19 even arrived.

“I think there’s a different cultural approach in Africa, where these countries have approached COVID with a sense of humility because they’ve experienced things like Ebola, polio and malaria,” Sridhar said.

In past months, the coronavirus has pummeled South Africa and is estimated to have killed more than 89,000 people there, by far the most deaths on the continent. But for now, African authorities, while acknowledging that there could be gaps, are not reporting huge numbers of unexpected fatalities that might be COVID-related. WHO data show that deaths in Africa make up just 3% of the global total. In comparison, deaths in the Americas and Europe account for 46% and 29%.

In Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, the government has recorded nearly 3,000 deaths so far among its 200 million population. The U.S. records that many deaths every two or three days.

The low numbers have Nigerians like Opemipo Are, a 23-year-old in Abuja, feeling relieved. “They said there will be dead bodies on the streets and all that, but nothing like that happened,” she said.

On Friday, Nigerian authorities began a campaign to significantly expand the West African nation’s coronavirus immunization. Officials are aiming to inoculate half the population before February, a target they think will help them achieve herd immunity.

Oyewale Tomori, a Nigerian virologist who sits on several WHO advisory groups, suggested Africa might not even need as many vaccines as the West. It’s an idea that, while controversial, he says is being seriously discussed among African scientists — and is reminiscent of the proposal British officials made last March to let COVID-19 freely infect the population to build up immunity.

That doesn’t mean, however, that vaccines aren’t needed in Africa.

“We need to be vaccinating all out to prepare for the next wave,” said Salim Abdool Karim, an epidemiologist at South Africa’s University of KwaZulu-Natal, who previously advised the South African government on COVID-19. “Looking at what’s happening in Europe, the likelihood of more cases spilling over here is very high.”

The impact of the coronavirus has also been relatively muted beyond Africa in poor countries like Afghanistan, where experts predicted outbreaks amid ongoing conflict would prove disastrous.

Hashmat Arifi, a 23-year-old student in Kabul, said he hadn’t seen anyone wearing a mask in months, including at a recent wedding he attended alongside hundreds of guests. In his university classes, more than 20 students routinely sit unmasked in close quarters.

“I haven’t seen any cases of corona lately,” Arifi said. So far, Afghanistan has recorded about 7,200 deaths among its 39 million people, although little testing was done amid the conflict and the actual numbers of cases and deaths are unknown.

Back in Zimbabwe, doctors were grateful for the respite from COVID-19 — but feared it was only temporary.

“People should remain very vigilant,” warned Dr. Johannes Marisa, president of the Medical and Dental Private Practitioners of Zimbabwe Association. He fears that another coronavirus wave would hit Zimbabwe next month. “Complacency is what is going to destroy us because we may be caught unaware.”

https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-science-health-pandemics-united-nations-fcf28a83c9352a67e50aa2172eb01a2f