The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control reported another fall in COVID-19 cases for Thursday 15 October, with just 148 new cases logged.

Lagos reported the highest incidents with 66 cases, followed by the usual suspects, Oyo , the FCT and Plateau.

While the FCT recorded 25 new cases, Oyo has 13 and Plateau 11.

Confirmed cases in ten other states, were single digits.

Overall, Thursday’s number was fewer than the 179 recorded on Wednesday, with Lagos accounting for 116 cases.

On Tuesday, 225 cases were recorded. Lagos, ever the epicentre, logged 165.

In contrast, on Monday, 164 cases were reported for the entire country.

Lagos also reported the highest at 65.

Till date, 60,982 cases have been confirmed nationally.

Of the lot, 52194 cases have been discharged.

The death toll now stands at 1,116.

My research group set out to assess the load and chemical nature of microplastics in two important rivers and Gulf of Guinea tributaries in Nigeria. We looked for the presence of microplastics in aquatic insects since they often dominate aquatic animal life. Most also spend their adult stage in the terrestrial environment, once they emerge from their larvae. We found that microplastics were present in large quantities in the insect larvae. The insects are part of a food chain and could transfer the harmful effects of microplastics throughout the chain.

This further reinforces the urgent need for Nigeria to go ahead with measures to reduce the use of plastic bags and single-use plastics.

Other research elsewhere has shown the link between microplastics and human health.

Through feeding, the transfer of microplastics in the environment could go as far as people – who caused the plastic pollution in the first place.

Evidence suggests that microplastics reduce the physiological fitness of animals. This comes through decreased food consumption, weight loss, decreased growth rate, energy depletion and susceptibility to other harmful substances. Human health could similarly be at risk on account of microplastic ingestion.

Microplastics can be retained for a longer time at the higher trophic levels where humans belong, thereby predisposing humans to serious health hazards.

To protect the environment is to protect ourselves. The environment will affect the health of the human body, which in turn affects the human immune system. Let us protect the environment together.

Recently, epidemics in various places have recurred. We must pay more attention to the safety of students when we open schools. After all, children are our future.

Back to class on Monday for Nigerian students as all state and private schools reopened after a months-long lockdown in light of the onset of the covid-19 pandemic back in March - with strict coronavirus prevention guidelines to be adhered to by all school staff and students alike at the risk of being shut down if found in violation, as cautioned by Adamu Adamu, the nation’s Minister of Education.

Adenike Onafeso, the Head of a School in Nigeria, shared how upholding some of the strict guidelines was a bit of a challenge, "We had to do the floor markings, we had to measure the lockers for social distancing. We had to ensure that everybody is coming with a face mask. Initially, it was a bit tough for the adults. "

Authorities allowed a partial reopening of schools last month for graduating students to sit national advancement exams and with new daily infection figures - at an average peak of 700 in July and August and now down to 200, the decision was made to reopen all schools country-wide.

Nigeria has made wearing face masks mandatory and advised citizens to maintain social distancing and continue to wash their hands regularly and use hand sanitiser as needed.

Nigeria has reported 60,430 with 1,115 fatalities and 51,943 recoveries out of a population of 200 million people, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.

Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, Nigeria has undergone a socio-economic blockade, which further emphasizes the importance of a good medical system to the public and private sectors. As the country closes its borders and restricts support to other countries, people gradually realize that the country should be self-sufficient in key sectors such as health care. Relying on yourself is better than relying on others. Don't just focus on economic development and ignore medical care.

Nigeria’s health care system lacks the resources it requires to adequately serve Africa’s most populous country. The West African nation with the biggest economy in sub-Saharan Africa could take a simple, cost-effective step towards improving health care by leveraging its periodic census to collect information on where scarce resources are most needed.

“Nigeria spends less on health than nearly every country in the world,” a 2018 World Bank study concluded, noting that government health spending in 2016 was just US$11 per citizen.

Other indicators are equally dire.

About 35,000 doctors currently serve Nigeria’s population of just over 200 million, well below the estimated 237,000 that the World Health Organization says are needed.

Nigeria’s death rate last year was 11.7 citizens per 1,000, the highest in West Africa and well above the rate of 8.0 for all of Africa, according to the United Nations.

A 2010 World Bank study of four states in Nigeria concluded that health facilities were understaffed and lacked basic supplies, and most did not have taps with running water. Satisfaction with the services was uniformly low.

Nigera lags behind other African nations in healthcare.
In a country with one of the largest youth populations in the world, one in every 10 Nigerian children dies before their first birthday and one in every five before their fifth, primarily due to communicable diseases that can be treated or prevented at low cost, according to the World Bank.

There are large inequalities in health care utilization. Among the poorest one fifth of the population, only 30% of people who fell ill or were injured in the two weeks before a 2004 survey visited a health provider. In contrast, 72% of people with an illness or injury in the richest end of the income distribution sought health care.

While the quality of health care varies widely across Africa, several countries have health systems that reach more citizens than in Nigeria. Rwanda’s national health insurance scheme covers 91% of its citizens, compared to a third of the population in Ghana and under 3% in Nigeria, according to the United Nations.

Although Nigeria is blessed by abundant natural resources — it is Africa’s biggest oil exporter and has the largest natural gas reserves on the continent — poverty is pervasive.

“Large pockets of Nigeria’s population still live in poverty, without adequate access to basic services,” according to the World Bank, which noted that economic growth is too slow to lift the bottom half of the population out of poverty. The Boko Haram insurgency has deepened the divide between the North and the relatively more prosperous South.

Census could help determine where to devote resources.
Nigeria could follow in the footsteps of some developed countries by using census questions to generate data that would help make its health care system more efficient.

Australia is a case in point. Questions in its 2016 census relating to disabilities and the provision of unpaid care helped determine what services should be offered and where.

The U.S. Census Bureau sends a survey to different households every month asking about disabilities. The answers help the government fund programs for the disabled and ensure funding goes to the right places.

Nigeria, which has conducted census surveys sporadically since 1962, uses its data to determine the country’s population and to collect basic information about each citizen. In the last census in 2006, authorities asked only one question pertaining to health: What was the most serious disability, if any, within each family.

Nigeria could use its census to gather more details about citizens’ health. Some possible questions:

Does a family member have difficulty performing daily duties due to a health issue?
Does a family member have a chronic illness?
Does a family member have a long-term disability?
Do you have health care?
How much do you spend on health care?
How far do you travel to get health care?
Answers would yield demographic data and help determine how many people are suffering from different conditions and where they live. With such information, Nigerian authorities could dispatch limited resources to where they are most needed. Because the census is periodic, a new survey would not be needed.

Better census data could help improve healthcare over time.
Because Nigeria’s finances are stretched, it’s critical that resources should be allocated efficiently to ensure citizens’ most pressing health needs are identified. More robust census data could enable authorities to evaluate the health care system’s effectiveness over time.

Collecting more data is not a solution in itself. Data must be analyzed and then steps taken to address critical needs. Clara Affun-Adegbulu, a researcher at the Institute of Tropical Medecine in Antwerp, said Nigeria’s healthcare system was hobbled by a lack of resources, mismanagement, corruption and waste.

“Each country comes to a conclusion on how they are going to fund their healthcare system, partly based on ideology,” Affun-Adegbulu said. “Some countries are more like each person should be for themselves, while others believe we are all in this together. Nigeria falls along the spectrum closer to the way America thinks — each person for themselves.”

Still, Nigeria could take a step in the right direction by adding a few, simple questions to its census survey.

COVID-19 cases plummeted in Nigeria on Thursday, with the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, announcing fewer cases.

Figures released by the centre showed that the nation recorded 103 new cases of COVID-19, a decrease from the 155 cases raked in the previous day.

Total Coronavirus cases in Nigeria is put at 59,841, with 51,551 survivors discharged and 1,113 deaths recorded.

On Thursday, cases were recorded in 12 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

Only Lagos (39 cases), Rivers (21 cases) and Oyo (19 cases) posted dozens of infections.

The epidemic situation in our country has once again improved. This is not surprising. After all, our country has the correct method of epidemic prevention, and the people have implemented the national policy very well.

Nigerian scientists have made a faster and cheaper coronavirus testing kit to enable the country to expand testing efforts throughout its country, CNN reported Saturday.
According to the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR), the test will come with a price tag under $25, and the machine needed to analyze samples is portable and can be analyzed my low-skilled, minimally trained personnel. And finding out results will take less than 40 minutes, according to CNN.
This is great. Cheap prices can be accepted by more people. If you can know whether you are infected with the virus in time, you can reduce the infection of people around you. I think the United States, where the epidemic is severe, should also promote this coronavirus test kit.

Why is the United States so enthusiastic? The epidemic in the United States is much worse than in our country. Recently, I have seen the news of an increase in the number of cases in the United States. Why don't they solve their own domestic affairs first?

The United States Government, through the U.S. Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is funding a new $2.1 million survey in Nigeria to determine the spread of Coronavirus.
The household survey to determine the extent of COVID-19 transmission will be conducted in the states of Gombe, Enugu, and Nasarawa.
The survey will increase the current understanding of COVID-19 transmission and burden in these three states and inform COVID-19 response efforts of the Government of Nigeria and its partners.
The U.S. CDC will also provide technical assistance as part of the U.S. Government’s bilateral efforts to improve the health and well-being of the Nigerian people.
The survey will estimate the proportion of the population in these states who have ever been infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19 disease.
This will be accomplished by measuring the presence of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 in the blood of volunteers. These antibodies, specialized proteins produced by the immune system to fight infection, are generated as part of the body’s response to COVID-19 and are an indication of previous infection.
The survey will also estimate the proportion of people who have the disease but are not showing any symptoms, determine risk factors for infection, and measure the intra-household transmission of COVID-19. The survey will also estimate the prevalence of malaria and its potential relationship to SARS-CoV-2 infection.
All members of selected households will be offered the opportunity to participate in the survey. If they agree, participants will answer a brief questionnaire, have their blood drawn and tested for the presence of COVID-19 antibodies, and receive a nasal swab and oropharyngeal swab to test for acute COVID-19. They will also have a rapid malaria test and receive malaria treatment if the test is positive.
Testing for COVID-19 infection and antibodies will be done at the National Reference Laboratory in Gaduwa, Abuja.
The U.S. CDC is working with the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB), one of its implementing partners in Nigeria, to provide technical assistance and oversee field implementation of the survey. The survey will be conducted between September and November with preliminary results expected to be released by December 2020.

Following the COVID-19 impact on the global economy, several countries around the world including the United States, Canada, Russia and the United Kingdom and Nigeria, among others have embarked on rate cuts this year. Nigeria so far has cut the MPR twice – first in May and second in September 2020.The impact of the epidemic on the economy is really great. Although our country has better control of the epidemic, the economy is in decline. I dare not think about the economic conditions of those countries with severe epidemics.

It seems that we are not far from being completely open, and people's lives will also be on the right track. I don't envy those countries that opened up early. They don't care about the epidemic, so the epidemic is still raging today.

Authorities in Abuja have shut two of the four isolation centres that cater for coronavirus patients in the Nigerian capital.

COVID-19 isolation centres located inside Karu and Asokoro general hospitals are now closed following the reduction in the number of patients.

Only the treatment centres in Idu and THISDAY Dome will now hold COVID-19 patients in Abuja.

There has been a significant reduction in the number of daily infections across Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

For about a month, the West African nation has been recording daily figures below 300, an indication that the country is heading for a plateau in its epidemiological curve.
Health authorities, however, warn against relaxing, as low testing is still being witnessed across the country.

“One critical issue is the number of tests being done, and yes the number of tests has actually declined,” the director-general of Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Chikwe Ihekweazu, said at a Presidential TaskForce on COVID-19 briefing.

There has also an increase in the number of patients being discharged across isolation facilities in the country.

Nigeria has recorded over 58,000 cases leading to the death of over 1,100 people. Meanwhile, about 49,000 of the infected total have fully recovered after receiving treatment.

“Opinion polls have found that Americans are increasingly wary of receiving coronavirus vaccines. Scientists inside and outside the government worry that, under pressure from the president, regulators may release unproven or unsafe vaccines before election day on November 3.”
God, the vaccine may be disturbed by the election! Can such a US president and US government still occupy a moral high?
For us, we hope to continue to see the scientific choices made by our government. This is really important.

TIME was selected as the 2020 TIME100 by Tunji Funsho, a Nigerian doctor, and the magazine is an annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. This is good news and can stimulate the continued development of medical care in our country. If we encounter this kind of pandemic again, we can do better than some developed countries.

Different news media in the United States track Covid-19 deaths slightly differently. For example, the Washington Post and NBC News have reported that the 200,000 milestone has been reached. Many other national/regional media, including CNN, cited the Johns Hopkins University database, which currently lists 199,481 deaths in the United States. This shows that the United States does not pay attention to Covid-19. I think the first thing to face a problem is to face it squarely before finding a solution.

The latest round of sanctions could see Nigerians hit with even tighter restrictions and greater scrutiny on US B1 business visit visas, B2 holiday visit visas, L1 intra-company transfer visas, H1B specialty occupation visas, E2 Treaty Investor visas, E1 Treaty Trader visas and other types of US visa.
However, Trump’s continued ‘targeting’ of Nigerians has drawn criticism, with many arguing that it’s causing fear and generating fake news. Nigeria has become a target of Trump visa restrictions mainly because Nigerians have a high US visa overstay rate.
Under the Trump administration, thousands of Nigerians have reported that access to US visas is harder than ever. Many claim that their US visa applications are often rejected, which dissuades them from applying again… at least until Trump is no longer President.
The latest visa restrictions on Nigerians come as huge blow, given that back in February US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, said he was ‘optimistic’ that the US could lift existing restrictions imposed on the African nation. However, the latest State Department announcement has seemingly quashed hope that restrictions will be lifted any time soon.

(CNN)The US government has placed travel restrictions on Nigerians who undermine "democratic process or organize election-related violence" during elections.
This latest move follows a decision in January 2019 to deny visas to individuals involved in electoral violence.
Last year travel restrictions were also placed on individuals who were involved in corruption and electoral violence during the country's general elections in February - March 2019.
The lastest visa restrictions affect "individuals have so far operated with impunity at the expense of the Nigerian people and have undermined democratic principles," Morgan Ortagus, a US State Department spokeswoman, said in a statement announcing the restrictions Monday.
"We condemn the acts of violence, intimidation, or corruption that harmed Nigerians and undermined the democratic process."
It listed four states in Nigeria as harboring violators.
The visa restrictions will only affect "certain individuals and not directed at the Nigerian people," the report says. However, the individuals affected were not named.
It stated that the US government wants to help Nigeria "end corruption and strengthen democracy, accountability, and respect for human rights.""
Nigeria's general elections and parliamentary elections, held between March and April 2019, were marred by violence, vote-buying and rigging.
More than 620 people died of violence during the 2019 elections cycle, according to a report from SBM Intelligence, one of Nigeria's leading analysis platforms.
This violence weakens voter confidence in the government and scares away Nigerians from participating in elections, says Lagos based public affairs analyst Samuel Ibemere.
"Nigeria has had leaders who do not care about the consequences of their actions or being accountable to the people. The US is sending the message that there is now a Big Brother is watching their actions. The country has had the politicians who subdue the will of the people during votes. It is a problem that has been here for a long time," says Samuel.
Nigeria will go to the polls once more on September 19 to elect the governor of Edo state, one of the states included in the US visa ban.
The rhetoric of the top candidates from the country's leading political parties have been tough and tense.
The country's Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) warns that the tensions could lead to a state of emergency.
Local authorities have organized peace meetings between the leading politicians in the state to ease rising tensions, according to local media reports.
Many voters have withdrawn from the polls for fear of violence, a recent survey has shown.
Samuel says he expects the US ban to change the political culture of violence in Nigeria, as well as other African countries because of Nigeria's strategic influence in the region.
"Nigeria is Africa's largest democracy and the US is trying to set it up as a model that other African countries can copy. If Nigeria works well, the rest of Africa might just follow," he said.

We are in a global public health emergency, which has had a negative impact on all aspects of our lives, including the economy and government finances. The health and survival of our country are very important. We should avoid any action that will weaken the results of the containment of the pandemic.

AstraZeneca’s vaccine trials resume in Britain after a safety review. Canada reported zero deaths linked to Covid-19 in a 24-hour period.
RIGHT NOWThe United States has reported more than 6.5 million cases, nearly two million more than India, which has the second-highest number of cases globally.
Trump appointees at the Health and Human Services Department have meddled in the C.D.C.’s weekly disease reports.
Political appointees at the Department of Health and Human Services have repeatedly asked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to revise, delay and even scuttle reports on the coronavirus that they believed were unflattering to President Trump.
Current and former senior health officials with direct knowledge of phone calls, emails and other communication between the agencies confirmed on Saturday a report in Politico late Friday that the C.D.C.’s public Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports have been targeted by senior officials in the Health and Human Services’ communications office.
The reports, which one former top health official called the “holiest of the holy” in agency literature, are written largely for scientists and public health experts, to update them on trends in infectious diseases, not only the coronavirus but also other outbreaks around the country. They are guarded so closely by agency staff members that political appointees only see them just before they are published.
The reports became the subject of intense scrutiny this summer by Michael Caputo, a Republican political operative and former Trump campaign official the White House installed as the top spokesman at the department in April, despite his having no background in health.
Mr. Caputo himself said on Saturday the Politico’s report was largely accurate, but he denied that there was any overt pressure involved. He said that the primary person involved in critiquing the reports, Paul Alexander, an assistant professor of health research at McMaster University in Canada whom he hired to advise him on the science of the pandemic, simply offered direct reactions to the drafts of the C.D.C.’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports.
“He digs into these M.M.W.R.s and makes his position known, and his position isn’t popular with the career scientists sometimes,” Mr. Caputo said of Mr. Alexander. “That’s called science. Disagreement is science. Nobody has been ever ordered to do anything. Some changes have been accepted, most have been rejected. It’s my understanding that that’s how science is played.”
In emails obtained by Politico and confirmed to The Times by a health official with direct knowledge of them, Mr. Alexander accused C.D.C. scientists of trying to “hurt the president,” referring to the weekly reports as “hit pieces on the administration.” Mr. Alexander asked Dr. Robert R. Redfield, the C.D.C. director, to edit reports that had already been published, which he believed overstated the risks of the virus for children and undermined the administration’s efforts to encourage school reopenings.
The meddling from Washington concerned Dr. Redfield, according to one former senior health official, who often pushed back when Mr. Caputo called to pester him about the reports.
Inside the C.D.C., employees expressed outrage and demoralization on Saturday over the reports of interference.

(CNN)It seems an awfully long time since Canadians were last lectured by the state on sexual behavior. Just as folks were headed out for Labor Day long weekend frolicking, Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada's chief public health officer, warned fellow citizens to wear a mask while having sex and to avoid kissing people in order to prevent passing along a Covid-19 infection.
Michael Bociurkiw
Tam, who also serves on a World Health Organization (WHO) international oversight committee, said "sex can be complicated" during the pandemic and that the lowest risk sexual activity during Covid-19 involves "yourself alone."
The stern warning -- echoed again on Tuesday by Dr. Tam amid reports people are holding large gatherings -- "What we don't want is this virus getting into a setting where there is a high degree of transmission, sometimes called super-spreading events. Those are crowded, enclosed places where people are gathering where they're not observing public health measures or where we have to help them adjust their protocols to better manage," she said.
"The most difficult part is private functions, family gatherings, where we need to make sure we support persons in this country to know what to do to minimize the risk."
Her admonitions come as Canadians start to send their children back to school and prepare for a further reopening of the economy. With fears of an uptick in numbers -- the daily case count in British Columbia surged to 121 on Friday from 80 in early June -- Canadian officials are turning up the heat and warning of rollbacks on openings if people don't heed the rules.
The coordinated, blunt and direct public health messaging and parental-like warnings are in stark contrast to United States, where Covid-19 cases per capita are more than five times what they are in Canada.
Perhaps mindful of the need to speak directly to young Canadians as pandemic fatigue sets in and a more cavalier attitude takes hold, Tam didn't mince words -- even if it meant breaking our national taboos. In fact, it was exactly the type of blunt and direct public health messaging that is absent in the US, but which has helped to crush the curve north of the border.
Trump may reach a new milestone by Election Day
Trump may reach a new milestone by Election Day
"We need to do better with risk communication here in the United States. We know this virus affects every facet of our life -- from what happens in the bedroom to the kitchen table to our social gatherings," Dr. Syra Madad, senior director of special pathogens at NYC Health and Hospitals, told me. "If you treat this as a taboo topic or preach for abstinence that's not going to work."
Huge contrasts in numbers
As of Labor Day Monday, the US had the highest number of cases and deaths in the world (over 6.3 million and almost 190,000 respectively). And, in terms of the average number of new infections per day, the US is in worse shape now than over Memorial Day weekend, when there were fewer than 20,000 new cases per day compared to over 50,000 new cases on Friday. Currently, new cases were trending up in 14 US states, 14 were holding steady and 23 reporting lower case counts (including the District of Columbia).
Contrast that to Canada, where the daily Covid-19 case count is less than one-quarter of what it was at its peak on May 3 (1571 vs 247 as of Monday).
This is not to say we haven't had our blind spots: Neglect in long-term care homes, especially in Quebec where more than half of all deaths occurred in such facilities, was deemed a national shame and prompted a coroner's inquest.
There were also outbreaks at farms in southwest Ontario (close to Michigan), where migrant farmworkers are employed and work and live in close proximity
Why Canada?
The truth about 'herd immunity'
The truth about 'herd immunity'
There are a number of theories as to why Canada has managed to flatten the Covid-19 curve much better than the United States. One is that Canadians, who entered confederation with the motto "peace, order and good government" are much more compliant than our southern neighbors with their attachment to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" -- even if it means potentially killing others by refusing to wear masks in the name of freedom.
"A lot of Canadians are rule-followers. If you're at the bank and there's three tellers open everybody gets in line behind one teller and waits for their turn to be called. We are very, for the most part, rule followers -- especially in Ottawa," Sarah Chown, the managing partner of Metropolitan Brasserie in Ottawa and local chair of the Ontario Restaurant, Hotel and Motel Association, told me.
It can also be argued that the federal and provincial governments enabled Canadians to respect lockdowns and stay at home by offering unprecedented and generous financial aid from early on -- including up to C$2000 per month for Canadians out of work, as well as more time to pay taxes and mortgage payment deferrals, allowances for seniors, and wage subsidies for businesses -- all a far cry from the limited amounts offered south of the border. Even the media received a C$30 million handout from Ottawa in the form of forgiveness of broadcasting fees.
In all, the Covid-19 measures helped push the federal deficit to C$343.2 billion this year and the federal debt past the C$1 trillion mark for the first time, former federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau said in July.
And all that is on top of free public health care, including free testing.
"If compliance means personal or business bankruptcy, people will ignore orders such as lockdowns. I suspect that's part of the American Covid-19 story in certain regions," Canadian political analyst Yaroslav Baran told me.
The desperate 'pandemic' among US veterans
The desperate 'pandemic' among US veterans
From the get-go, Canada's federal and provincial leaders prioritized science over politics and spin, evangelizing the importance of wearing masks, maintaining physical distancing and proper hand hygiene, promises to support widespread testing and contact tracing backed by free downloadable Covid-19 exposure app. Even the recently concluded federal Conservative Party leadership race was held mostly online -- after going on for much longer than anticipated.
And with a possible federal election on the horizon, Elections Canada is prepping for a surge in demand for mail-in ballots, all without controversy.
A key but painful measure to stem possible Covid-19 contagion from the United States, the border was closed to all but essential travel on March 22. The closure has been extended to September 21 but expect pressure from the Trump Administration -- which is trying to project a return to normalcy -- to open the border ahead of the November elections.
Political Bromances
Unlike the US, where political divisiveness and legislative gridlock have become commonplace during the pandemic, some unusual political "bromances" have sprouted here in Canada, none more prominent than that between Ontario Premier Doug Ford of the Conservative Party and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland from the ruling federal Liberal party. Referring to his federal colleague with such glowing terms as "amazing," Ford seems to seize every opportunity to praise their newfound bonhomie.
Through daily, televised briefings -- often simulcast on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's national news channel -- the pandemic has also transformed the heretofore unknown provincial health officers into celebrities in their own right, with Dr. Bonnie Henry in British Columbia, gaining international notoriety with a flattering profile in The New York Times and a fan club on social media.
And throughout it all, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has remained front and center, filling the airwaves during the first months of the pandemic with daily briefings in a comforting Mr. Rogers tone of voice, assuring Canadians that "We're in this together" and that the government will be there for them, especially in terms of financial aid.
Between Friends
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It's been said that Canada has had no closer friend and ally than the United States. That sentiment was summed up in 1976 with a bicentennial gift book called Between Friends/Entre Amis. It was an eloquent acknowledgment of how much we have in common, including the longest undefended border in the world. Here on Vancouver Island, we breathe the same forest fire haze, share stewardship over the same endangered marine mammals and gaze at the same stars and aircraft contrails as our neighbors in northwest Washington state. Even the Stars and Stripes has pride of place in many spots alongside the Maple Leaf.
But with the United States being the Number One Covid-19 hot spot in the world, I cannot remember a time when we have been so thankful for being kept apart.
America -- entre amis -- get your act together so that so we can bring this Covid-19 estrangement to an end.
PAID CONTENTedictable, preventable catastrophe.

If the US had Canada’s Covid-19 death rate, 100,000 more Americans would likely be alive today

The US’s Covid-19 epidemic is bad. But just how bad is it?

Over at the New York Times, columnist David Leonhardt compared the US’s coronavirus death toll to that of the rest of the world. He noted the US accounts for about 4 percent of the world’s population but 22 percent of its confirmed Covid-19 deaths. So how many lives would be saved if those numbers were even? Leonhardt calculated: “about 145,000.”

Columnist Ross Douthat took issue with that approach. Arguing that “the patterns for Covid-19 fatalities often look more region-specific than country-specific,” he compared the US to a slew of countries in the Western Hemisphere, particularly in Latin America and parts of Europe. By that toll, the US doesn’t seem to do so badly, with a death rate close to that of Brazil, France, Mexico, and the United Kingdom.

But Douthat’s list, despite calling for a regional comparison, doesn’t include Canada, arguably the country most similar to the US in the Western Hemisphere and one that’s done a much better job fighting the coronavirus than the US.

So that got me wondering: What would a more comprehensive comparison look like? What would the US death toll be like if the country had the same rate of Covid-19 deaths as some other wealthy nations, accounting for population differences?

The results, based on Our World in Data, are staggering:

If the US had the same death rate as the European Union overall, nearly 84,000 Americans wouldn’t have died from Covid-19 (out of the nearly 190,000 who have died so far).
If the US had the same death rate as Canada, nearly 109,000 Americans wouldn’t have died from Covid-19.
If the US had the same death rate as Germany, more than 152,000 Americans wouldn’t have died from Covid-19.
If the US had the same death rate as Australia, more than 179,000 Americans wouldn’t have died from Covid-19.
If the US had the same death rate as Japan, more than 185,000 Americans wouldn’t have died from Covid-19.

Our World in Data
The US doesn’t do worse than every other developed nation. San Marino, Belgium, Spain, the UK, Italy, and Sweden all report worse death rates. But the US has been catching up to the latter four recently, and they comprise only a handful of the three dozen developed nations in the world.

The comparisons here aren’t perfect. There are other factors, like higher rates of preexisting medical conditions, that would have likely led the US to suffer more Covid-19 deaths, all else held equal. But that wouldn’t explain why the US has reported multiple times the cases — more than four times the EU, more than five times Canada, and more than 18 times Australia — and, as the list above demonstrates, multiple times the deaths.

In his op-ed, Douthat argues that his comparisons suggest Donald Trump is a merely mediocre president. Taking the steps to stop Covid-19, he wrote, “would have probably required presidential greatness, not merely replacement-level competence. We can say without a doubt that Trump whiffed when this call for greatness came. But distinguishing between Trump’s incompetence and what an average president might have managed is harder, so long as so many peer-country death tolls look like ours.”

But peer-country death tolls really don’t look like ours. The US is doing about seven times worse than the median developed country, ranking in the bottom 20 percent for Covid-19 deaths among wealthy nations. Tens of thousands of lives have been lost as a result.

And a lot of this is on Trump. As cases climbed in the US, the president abdicated problems with testing to local, state, and private actors; pushed states to reopen way too early to supposedly “LIBERATE” their economies; spoke negatively about masks while refusing to wear one himself; and backed unproven and even dangerous approaches to treating Covid-19, including injecting bleach. Each of these failures compounded and led to the current US death toll — and local and state governments, as hard as some tried, simply don’t have the resources to fight a pandemic on their own.

Compare that to Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, or Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. These are leaders all over the political spectrum, but they took the pandemic seriously — building up testing, advocating for mask-wearing, encouraging social distancing, or all of the above. And their countries are much better off.

There’s still time for things to go a different way. Maybe the US will somehow get its act together, avoiding another wave of infections and deaths. Maybe other developed countries will see massive second waves similar to America’s. (Spain and France, after relaxing social distancing and going easy on masking, already are.)

But for now, the US has suffered a much worse Covid-19 outbreak and death toll than all but a handful of its developed peers. It’s a predictable, preventable catastrophe.

To successfully respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, first of all, the country needs to formulate correct epidemic prevention policies and measures, and secondly, the public's compliance and implementation. Only in this way can we maintain national security from the threat of COVID-19, otherwise even as powerful as the United States will fall into chaos.

The COVID-19 pandemic curve is rapidly flattening at an incredibly fast pace in the last few days. This follows several measures implemented by the government such as wearing a face mask, social distancing, and lockdown procedures, which are slowing down the spread of the pandemic in the country.

The latest data from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) announced on Sunday reveals 138 new cases of Covid-19 was confirmed in Nigeria, which is the lowest daily number recorded since April 27th. It was 250 the day before and 160 on Friday. In total Nigeria has a total tally of 53,865.

A look at the time series shows that the curve started bending consistently in August after enduring three months of significant increases since May which dragged till the later part of the month of August. Month to date August has registered a daily average of just 357 one of the lowest and just lower than 150 days (between April 1 and August 29 2020) average of 359 cases.

The latest COVID-19 situation report shows that over 34,199 (64%) of the recorded cases were male while 19,528 (36%) females have been affected so far. Also, the most affected age group is between 31 and 40 years of age. Only 1% of the recorded cases have travel history, 24% got infected through contact with infected persons while 75% got infected through unknown exposure.

So far, 41,513 patients have been discharged since the pandemic, indicating a recovery rate of 77.1%, 11,339 patients remain under observation while 1,013 (1.88%) deaths have been recorded.

It appears that the policies of the government are working as health experts have often cited wearing facemasks and limited movements as one of the most effective ways of containing the spread of the virus. Recall that the President, Muhammadu Buhari directed the cessation of all movement in Lagos and the Federal Capital (Abuja) for an initial period of 14 days, which took effect from March 30th, 2020, and later extended by an additional two-weeks period.

While Nigerians were restricted to the four walls of their homes, mandatory use of face masks and adoption of social distancing was strictly enforced in the country during this period with many organisations switching to remote working.

Furthermore, on April 27th, 2020, the President partially put on hold the movement restriction with only a few businesses allowed to commence operations from May 4th. It came along with the phased and gradual easing of lockdown measures in FCT, Lagos, and Ogun States, which took effect from Saturday, 2nd May 2020.

Alongside the measures that have been taken by the federal and various state governments, most organisations also carried out a number of sensitization programmes to enlighten the public about the symptoms of the disease and how it can be prevented. A move, which is reflective of the new trend in the number of confirmed cases in the country.

But while it appears the curve is flattening, there are also reports of underreported cases. A recent Nairametrics research suggests some people have fallen ill with symptoms of Covid-19 but did not bother to go for testing.

Why this matters: The steady decline in the number of confirmed cases recorded in Nigeria suggests the government’s policy on facemasks, lockdowns, and curfews appear to have contained the spread of the virus. This matters immensely for the economy especially as the government reopens the airspace for international flight operations and businesses consider resuming full operations.

Also, the quicker the curve flattens, the more optimistic it is for the economy to recover faster than expected. The Nigerian economy contracted by 6.1% in the second quarter of the year as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and halt in most aspects of the economy. Resuming full economic activities might not help the country avoid a recession but could quicken the recovery process.

This shows that strong government measures can better curb the epidemic, and wearing a mask is also one of the most effective ways to curb the spread of the virus. I think those European countries with chaotic policies should learn from us.

The school has finally reopened, but the protective measures we should take must continue. Don't be like some European countries, because the opening of schools has led to a surge in epidemic cases.

ABUJA (Reuters) - Schools will reopen in Nigeria’s commercial hub of Lagos next month as part of plans to revive the economy as COVID-19 cases decline, the state governor said on Saturday.

Lagos, the epicentre of the pandemic in Nigeria, plans to reopen colleges on Sept. 14, and primary and secondary schools on Sept. 21, Babajide Sanwo-Olu said.

“The gradual easing doesn’t mean the pandemic is over,” he said in a tweet. “It is not an invitation to carelessness or nonchalance.”

The Lagos governor said restaurants, social clubs and recreational centers would also be allowed to reopen as long as they followed safety rules.

Nigeria has reported 53,727 infections in total - including 18,104 in Lagos - and 1,011 deaths.

The West African nation has been opening up gradually.

It aims to resume international flights in September after domestic flights restarted last month and a ban on interstate travel was lifted.

Secondary schools reopened across Nigeria this month for pupils due to take graduation exams.

Another 134,000 people could die in the US from Covid-19 by December if no further safety measures are mandated -- and the actual number probably would be much worse if mandates are relaxed, researchers say.
The projection by the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation comes with a silver lining: About 70,000 of those lives would be saved if many more Americans wore masks, the institute's leader said.
"It really depends on what our leaders do, (both) as individuals, and what governments do," the IHME's chief, Dr. Chris Murray, told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Friday night.
At least 176,000 people have died of Covid-19 in the US since the pandemic began, and more than 5.6 million have been infected, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
IHME projected that if nothing about the nation's approach to prevention changed, death rates would dip in September but rise later in the fall, and the total would reach about 310,000 by December 1.
But changes in behavior would affect the projection, he said:
• If governments ease current social distancing restrictions and mask mandates, daily death rates could reach 6,000 daily by December, up from his current prediction of 2,000 daily, Murray said.
• On the other hand, if significantly more people wore masks, the projection of total deaths from now to December would drop by almost 70,000, he said. About 95% of the US population would have to wear masks for that to happen, he said.
Coronavirus case rates have been dropping for weeks in parts of the US, but death rates have been relatively elevated.
The country's seven-day average for daily coronavirus deaths was 987 on Friday -- the first time in more than three weeks that it dipped below 1,000, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
Daily US cases over the past week averaged about 44,100 as of Friday, down from a peak average of 67,317 on July 22, John Hopkins data show.
US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Robert Redfield said earlier this week he expects deaths to begin declining by next week as a result of continued mitigation measures.

From the successful examples of various countries, wearing masks has an obvious effect on the epidemic situation. But masks are still not popular in the United States. I think that for the sake of people's life safety, the state should issue corresponding rules and regulations.

If you've been living through the worst of the coronavirus pandemic for as long as the United States has, you might be pretty envious of the comparative calm just across the border in Canada.

Indeed, some Americans have even gone so far as to sneak into their northern neighbour, despite a border ban that's been in place since the pandemic began.

Many of them have been exploiting what has become known as the "Alaska loophole".

In March, Canada closed its borders to all foreign nationals.

But those who discovered the loophole have reportedly been telling authorities they're only passing through Canada on their way to the US state of Alaska.

Back in June for example, seven Americans were fined for illegally crossing into Canada to go on a hike.

Foreigners are also apparently arriving by sea, either on sailboats or luxury yachts.

It wasn't until the end of July that the border authority attempted to close the loophole, announcing that travellers heading to Alaska would need to take the most direct route to their destination.

"The border isn't actually fully closed, it's just closed to 'non-essential travel', which nobody has firmly defined," Colin Furness, an epidemiologist and professor at the University of Toronto, told the ABC.

"There are still something like 200,000 people crossing the border into Canada every week from the US. I wish that number was much lower, because people have to self-quarantine and our resources to enforce [and] monitor that are pretty weak."

Amid reports that this might be happening and that some Canadians were beginning to act out against American vehicles, premier of British Columbia John Horgan reminded Canadians to "be calm, be kind" at the end of July.

Closing the border is not a good way, but it is estimated that Canada has no better way. After all, the epidemic in the United States is so serious. In this regard, we should also be vigilant.

Abuja — Fear-stricken management and officials of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) will today undergo Covid-19 pandemic tests at its Sunday Dankaro House secretariat inside the National Stadium Complex in Abuja.

The compulsory test for all the staff of the football house is a follow up to the positive Covid-19 result of the Director of Finance of the NFF, Charity Kadiri.

General Secretary of the Federation, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi in his address to Management and Staff on Wednesday said: "Apart from him testing positive, I also had issues and had to go for tests when I was feeling ill and uncomfortable. But the truth is most of us have had contact with one another over the days, thus it is important we do the tests.

"I want to appreciate the Federal Government immensely for the efforts so far to contain the pandemic, and also officials of the Nigeria Centre for Disease and Control for agreeing to come to the NFF offices to conduct the tests. After the tests, the offices and the entire complex will be disinfected in line with the protocols of the Covid-19," stated Dr. Sanusi.

Sanusi also disclosed that after the tests, the offices would be closed for the disinfection process, while Management and Staff will work from home. Once the results are out, those who tested negative will immediately resume work in the Secretariat while anyone who tests positive will be required to self-isolate for the period stipulated in the Covid-19 protocols by the Federal Government.

The leadership of the country is very important in the face of a pandemic. Our country is doing very well in this regard. We are not like some countries because the leaders do not care and do not give the people a good lead, so the harm of the epidemic has become huge and beyond control.

Nigerian authorities announced the resumption of international flights after more than four-month hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic that has infected nearly 49,500 people in the West African country.

Aviation Minister Hadi Sirika said late Monday that the international flights will resume on Aug. 29, “beginning with Lagos and Abuja as we did with the domestic flight resumption.”

Sirika said international flight passengers must take a COVID-19 test wherever they are coming from very close to departure dates.

“A portal will also be opened for passengers to pay for another COVID-19 test to be done eight days after arrival in Nigeria,” he added.

“They will also fill in health questionnaires online, and hand them in at the point of entry, instead of filling the forms on the aircraft or on arrival,” Sirika said.

He said coronavirus preventive measures such as physical distancing, wearing of nose masks, washing of hands, and temperature checks will remain in place.

With a population of nearly 200 million, Nigeria has confirmed 49,485 coronavirus cases, with 977 deaths and 36,834 recoveries, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

The NCDC said a multi-sectoral national Emergency Operations Centre (EOC), activated at Level 3, continues to coordinate the national response activities.

Nigeria resumed domestic flight operations in early July.

The flights resumed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in the capital Abuja and Murtala Muhammed Domestic Terminal in the commercial city of Lagos.

Go ahead, Nigeria! Let us welcome more good news! I also remind everyone that the necessary protection must be done, not to mention the common sense issue of whether to wear a mask or not, as in some other countries.

The number of unemployed people in Nigeria has spiked to 21.8 million following the negative impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the private sector.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) put the figure of unemployed Nigerians at 21,764,617 as at the end of June as the country’s covid-19 cases almost hit 50,000.
Many private firms have rationalised their workforce and service industries have given up their sprawling office spaces and directed staff to work from home.
The statistics on the employment situation are contained in NBS’ Labour Force Statistics website, entitled “Unemployment and Underemployment Report (Q2 2020)’’ released in Abuja on August 15.
It referred to the report as an Abridged Labour Force Survey under Covid-19 for August 2020.

The data shows that my country has been severely affected by the new crown epidemic. Of course, if we compare this data with other countries, our situation should be controllable. This also shows that we must earnestly learn from the lessons of countries with severe epidemics, and we should not become the next United States, Brazil, India or other severely affected countries.