The emergence of new variants of the virus that causes Covid-19—including one in the U.K. that British officials say could be more deadly than earlier versions—signals a future in which health authorities are locked in a cat-and-mouse battle with a shape-shifting pathogen.

Faster-spreading coronavirus strains that researchers fear could also make people sicker or render vaccines less effective threaten to extend lockdowns and lead to more hospitalizations and deaths, epidemiologists caution..
But, they said, it doesn’t mean the contagion can’t be contained.

"We’re living in a world where coronavirus is so prevalent and rapidly mutating that there are going to be new variants that pop up," Anthony Harnden, a physician who advises the U.K. government, told Sky News.

"We may well be in a situation where we end up having to have an annual coronavirus vaccine" to cope with emerging strains.

As the new variant in the U.K. has spread across the country, hospitals have been under more strain than they were in the first wave of the pandemic in the spring, and the national Covid-19 death toll is expected to surpass 100,000 in coming days.

But in the week ended Sunday, new daily cases were down 22% from the previous seven days. Matt Hancock, the U.K.’s health secretary, said that was because of national restrictions in place since the start of the year.

But in a television interview, Mr. Hancock warned, "We are a long, long, long way" before cases would be low enough for restrictions to be lifted.

The U.K. variant is one of several that have emerged in recent months to cause concern among researchers. Others have emerged in South Africa and Brazil. Anthony Fauci, President Biden’s chief medical adviser for the Covid-19 pandemic, said on CBS on Sunday that U.S. authorities need to expand genomic surveillance to identify variants of the virus.

Dr. Fauci said current vaccines remain effective. "What we will do and are doing already is making preparations for the possibility that down the pipe, down the line, we may need to modify and upgrade the vaccines.

We don’t need to do that right now," he said. "The best way to prevent the further evolution of these mutants is to vaccinate as many people as possible with the vaccines that we have currently available to us."

Jeffrey Barrett, director of the Covid-19 Genomics Initiative at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, said the huge number of cases around the world has given the virus a lot of opportunities to evolve in ways not seen earlier in the pandemic.

"We’re going to have to really contend with these new variants in the virus in the next phase of the pandemic," he told an online seminar last week. "Something happened that basically allowed a new constellation of mutations to arise," presenting scientists with new challenges.

The variants likely delay the day when life can get back closer to normal thanks to vaccines and raise the prospect of outbreaks of infections periodically even after large numbers of people are inoculated. And their emergence also suggests that international travel restrictions—where governments impose bans on people coming from places where more troubling versions of the virus are prevalent—could be in place intermittently for years.

The likelihood that many people in poorer countries won’t have access to vaccines for some time suggests that more new variants will be incubating around the world even if levels of immunity in the developed world are high enough to curb the virus’s spread.

The U.K. announcement on Friday that the British variant that now dominates infections across the country—and is also well-entrenched in the U.S.—could be more deadly than earlier versions of the virus is preliminary and could be unduly pessimistic. It is based on the assessment of an expert advisory panel to the government that in turn used four separate academic studies of raw data to decide that there was a "realistic possibility" that the variant was deadlier.

The studies suggested that a greater proportion of people with this variant were ending up in the hospital or dying. It didn’t suggest that once in the hospital a patient was more likely to die than if he or she had been hospitalized with an earlier variant.

Faster-spreading variants imply that, for any given level of restrictions, cases will rise more rapidly or fall more slowly than with earlier versions. That suggests lockdowns, other things being equal, would have to last longer to bring cases down...

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/health/new-coronavirus-variants-complicate-the-battle-against-the-pandemic.amp

A prominent Kano State indigene and former Minister of Agriculture, Alhaji Alfa Wali is dead.
Wali also served as Permanent Secretary in many ministries, including the Ministry of Defence.

President Muhammadu Buhari expressed his condolence in a statement on Monday. He commiserated with the family and urged them to take comfort in the legacy of kindness he left behind.

Buhari also condoled with the government and people of Kano State. The Nigerian leader prayed that God will remember his good works and grant his soul eternal rest..

Source: https://dailypost.ng/2021/01/25/former-minister-alfa-wali-is-dead/

A Canadian woman won a $60 million jackpot using numbers from a dream her husband had 20 years ago.

Deng Pravatoudom, 57, played the digits for the last two decades — and it finally paid off last month, the Ontario Lottery and Gaming (OLG) said in a news release on Monday. “I started to cry,” Pravatoudom said of hearing the good news.

“I have always prayed for a blessing that my family would be taken care of!” The grandmother of two, who was laid off last spring amid the coronavirus pandemic, said she was grateful for the cash infusion.

“My husband and I have worked long hours as general laborers for over 40 years, trying to save what we could for our family…,” she said.
“This money will certainly help make our lives much easier.”

As an immigrant from Laos who came to Canada with her 14 siblings in 1980, Pravatoudom said that winning the jackpot had been beyond her wildest dreams.

“My family was sponsored by a local church and because we had nothing, I am thankful for the great support they provided us over the years,” Pravatoudom said.

The couple’s two kids were relieved when they heard about the big win. “They said, ‘Mom and Dad you have worked so hard for 40 years and made many sacrifices, so you deserve this happiness!’” Pravatoudom recalled.

She and her hubby plan to move out of their apartment and buy a house with the winnings, as well as pay off some bills. Pravatoudom also wants to travel: to Texas, Hawaii and in Europe.

“Except for when I came to Canada from Laos, I have never really traveled,” she said. “I am excited to see the world.”..

Source: https://nypost.com/2021/01/24/woman-wins-60m-jackpot-using-numbers-from-husbands-dream/amp/

Suspected gunmen, on Sunday, abducted and killed the Council Chairman of Ardo- kola local government area of Taraba, Hon. Salihu Dovo and his nephew, Timothy Aminu.

Aminu was killed while attempting to obstruct his abduction. Police Public Relations Officer of Taraba Command, DSP David Misal, confirmed the incident to The Nation, at Jalingo Federal Medical Centre Mortuary.

Narrating the incident, Misal said the gunmen stormed the deceased’s residence located at the Sabon-Gari area of Jalingo at about 1am on Sunday, shot sporadically for over 30 minutes before kidnapping the council boss.

He reported that the gunmen took Dovo towards the River Lamurde, the border between Jalingo and Ardo-Kola local government areas. PPRO Misal disclosed that the gunmen shot the victim after they noticed local vigilantes and police and could not escape with him.

“His corpse was dumped in Nahuta village across the river Lamurde boundary between Ardo-Kola and Jalingo council areas. “His nephew Aminu, who tried to block the roads to prevent abduction of the council boss, was also killed,” Misal said.

The police spokesman added that some suspects have been arrested over the incident. “We have arrested some suspects and I can assure you that the killers of the council boss and his nephew would be brought to book,” he said.

Meanwhile, the remains of the council boss and his nephew have been deposited at the Federal Medical Centre Mortuary, Jalingo..

Source: https://dailypost.ng/2021/01/24/gunmen-kidnap-kill-taraba-council-chairman/

LONDON —There is "some evidence" a new Covid variant first identified in the U.K. could be more deadly than the original strain, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Friday.

"We've been informed today that in addition to spreading more quickly, it also now appears that there is some evidence that the new variant — the variant that was first discovered in London and the southeast (of England) — may be associated with a higher degree of mortality," Johnson told a news conference.

He added that all the evidence suggests the vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca-Oxford University, the two currently being used in the U.K., remain effective against both the old and new variants of the virus. The evidence is still at a preliminary stage and it's being assessed by the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group, which advises the British government.

The variant, known as B.1.1.7, has an unusually high number of mutations and was already associated with a more efficient and rapid transmission.

Scientists first detected this mutation in September. It has since been found in at least 44 countries, including the U.S., which has reported its presence in 12 states.

Last week, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned that the modeled trajectory of the variant in the United States "exhibits rapid growth in early 2021, becoming the predominant variant in March."

Speaking alongside Johnson on Friday, the U.K.'s chief scientific advisor, Patrick Vallance, said there is now early evidence that there's an increased risk for those who have the new variant, compared with the old virus. "If you took ... a man in their 60s, the average risk is that for 1,000 people who got infected, roughly 10 would be expected to unfortunately die with the virus.

With the new variant, for 1,000 people infected roughly 13 or 14 people might be expected to die," Vallance said. He described the data as not being strong yet, and highlighted more concern regarding other Covid variants found in Brazil and South Africa.

The U.K. is currently in its third full lockdown with infection rages surging just before Christmas due to the new variant. The country reported a further 1,401 deaths on Friday and it has the highest coronavirus mortality rate in Europe with 96,166 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

SOURCE: https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2021/01/22/boris-johnson-evidence-new-covid-variant-associated-with-higher-mortality-.html

Gunmen suspected to be bandits Friday morning kidnapped the Village Head of Radda community, Alhaji Kabir Umar, in Charanchi Local Government Area of Katsina State.

The hoodlums were said to have stormed the residence of the traditional ruler at about 2:42am and shot his younger brother, Aminu Umar, before abducting the monarch.

Radda community is the hometown of the Director-General of Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Dr. Dikko Umar Radda.

An eyewitness, Zubairu Khalifa, who spoke to newsmen in a telephone interview on Friday, said the victim was still asleep when the bandits, numbering 10, invaded the town and moved straight to his residence.

He said: “Today (Friday) at about 2:42am some armed Fulani people riding on motorcycles attacked our community and kidnapped our Village Head, Alhaji Kabir Umar, and injured his younger brother, Aminu Umar.

As we speak, Aminu Umar has been taken to orthopaedic hospital in Katsina. “They came to the town on motorcycles and started shooting sporadically and asking people where is the residence of the village head.

We heard one of them saying he knew Alhaji Kabir’s residence. A few minutes after, we heard his younger brother shouting for help.” He said the incident has been reported to the police in the area and they (police) had visited the scene of the attack and are currently in the bush with some vigilantes in search of the abducted victim.

The police was yet to react to the incident as at the time of this report..

SOURCE: https://www.today.ng/news/nigeria/bandits-storm-katsina-community-abduct-village-head-342027

...

The disease may damage cardiac muscle even in those who never displayed symptoms.

NISHA PARIKH, MD Cardiologist Nisha Parikh, MD, MPH, discusses what we know so far about COVID-19’s impact on the body’s cardiovascular system, from affecting the heart’s rhythm to impairing its ability to pump blood throughout the body.


We used to think of COVID-19 as just a lung disease. What were the first signs that this view wasn’t quite accurate?

One of the first indications that this virus affected the cardiovascular system was an early report about how SARS- CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, enters a cell using the receptor involved in the system that regulates the body’s blood pressure and level of water and salts, which is known as the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system. That article definitely got my attention and the attention of my colleagues.

This receptor is called the ACE2 receptor, and its involvement might be behind why people with obesity, diabetes, and high blood pressure tend to get more severe forms of COVID-19. Although we haven’t quite unraveled that story, I think we are going to learn more.


What do we know so far about how COVID-19 affects the heart in the short term?

There are many ways COVID-19 can affect the heart during the initial period when someone gets the infection, particularly in the first few weeks. These effects can include new or worsened problems pumping blood effectively, inflammation of the heart muscle, and inflammation of the membrane around the heart.

It should be noted that other viruses also can cause these conditions. We determined this based on deaths from COVID-19 that we know about. But there’s also been a spike in deaths occurring outside the hospital nationwide since this spring, including people being found dead at home from unknown causes.
It makes you wonder how many of these out-of-hospital deaths were really COVID-19-related cardiovascular deaths.

Finally, we are also seeing effects from COVID-19 that may not be directly due to the virus but are related to people not obtaining appropriate medical treatment for a heart problem, often because they have delayed seeking medical care for hours, days, or even weeks after potential heart attack symptoms began.
This has led to some really serious complications we hadn’t seen in some time because we now have such good treatments for heart attacks that are detected early enough.

These issues include potentially deadly problems such as holes in the heart muscle and tears in the heart valves. The other thing my colleagues and I have seen when caring for patients admitted to the hospital is a higher incidence of a condition called Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, which is heart dysfunction that occurs when someone is under tremendous stress.

These days, that stress might be from social isolation, from having loved ones fall ill, or from having lost loved ones. But that trend is anecdotal; we don’t really know the scope of the problem yet.


What symptoms are you seeing among people who had COVID-19 in the past?

We are starting to see more patients with cardiovascular symptoms ranging from chest pain to palpitations to presyncope or syncope – which is feeling lightheaded, like you’re going to faint – that are often accompanied by neurologic symptoms such as brain fogginess, headaches, numbness, or other sensations in various parts of the body.

These are part of a constellation of symptoms that folks in this so-called COVID-19 long-hauler category are experiencing. Many of the symptoms seem to be tied to the nervous system and in many ways may share similarities with cardiovascular diseases we have known about for some time, such as postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome.

POTS, as it’s known, is characterized by an abnormal increase in heart rate when standing up and can lead to dizziness, fainting, and other debilitating symptoms. We would like to look further into whether this collection of COVID symptoms we are seeing is POTS.


Are signs of heart problems showing up in people of all ages?

Yes, we have seen young, middle-aged, and older adults develop heart issues. Of the two main studies of heart function among patients who’d had COVID-19 – including infections that were asymptomatic – the average age of participants in one was 49 years old; the other was a study of competitive college athletes who were an average of 19.5 years old.

Everyone working to answer questions related to heart function and COVID-19 agrees that we should be taking these studies as preliminary and certainly not definitive; more work needs to be done...

SOURCE: UCSF Magazine - University of California, San Francisco - Allison Bond, MD UCSF Magazine

At least five people were killed in a fire that broke out Thursday at a building under construction at Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, officials said.

The company said the blaze would not affect production of the COVID-19 vaccine. Murlidhar Mohol, mayor of Pune city in southern Maharashtra state, said five bodies were found in the rubble after the flames were extinguished by firefighters.

Mahol said the victims were probably construction workers. He said the cause of the fire had not been determined and the extent of damage was not immediately clear.

Serum Institue of India’s CEO, Adar Poonwala, said he was “deeply saddened” by the loss of life. He said there would be no reduction in vaccine manufacturing because the company has other available facilities.

The company said the fire was restricted to a new facility it is constructing to increase the production of COVID-19 vaccines and ensure it is better prepared for future pandemics.
It said the fire did not affect existing facilities making COVID-19 vaccines or a stockpile of around 50 million doses.

Images showed huge plumes of smoke billowing from the building and dozens of company workers in lab suits leaving the compound as firefighters worked to extinguish the blaze.

Serum Institute of India is the world’s largest maker of vaccines and has been contracted to manufacture a billion doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford University vaccine.

The new facility is part of the expansion. Of the more than 12 billion coronavirus vaccine doses expected to be produced this year, rich countries have already bought about 9 billion, and many have options to buy even more.

As a result, Serum Institute is likely to make most of the vaccines that will be used by developing nations..

SOURCE: https://apnews.com/article/pune-india-coronavirus-pandemic-fires-6537cec12b3d902958bdebdd257fad6b

The Katsina State Police Command has arrested a vice principal, Ibrahim Tukur, for raping his 12-year- old student of a community school in the state.

Briefing journalists on Wednesday, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Gambo Isah, said the suspect raped the teenager serially before impregnating her.
He explained that the young girl had been delivered of a baby from the pregnancy through a Caesarean section.

Tukur and other suspects who were paraded at the Katsina Police Command headquarters were said to have been arrested between January 9 and 14.

“Ibrahim Tukur is a Vice Principal of a Community School in Rimi Local Government Area. He lured this young girl of about 12 years old and serially had unlawful carnal knowledge of her without the knowledge of the parents,” he said. “He even impregnated her.

Right now, this young girl has been delivered of a baby out of a caesarian section at the General Hospital.” While calling on parents to closely monitor their children, the police spokesman said the Command would thoroughly investigate the matter to the end and prosecute the suspects.

Other suspects paraded included Auwal Hamzat and Sulaiman Abubakar who were alleged to have engaged in anal sex with three boys who were children of their neighbours. The neighbours were said to have reported the incident to the police leading to their arrest..

SOURCE: https://www.channelstv.com/2021/01/20/vice-principal-arrested-for-impregnating-12-year-old-girl-in-katsina/amp/

Hmm..

Covid-19: Enough of this NIN registration, people are dying, end it now, Ojuyah sends letter to FG

Businessman and philanthropist, Anirejuoritse Ojuyah, Tuesday sent an open letter to the federal government over the ongoing NIN registration, advising it to end the process.

Ojuyah, who tested positive for Covid-19 a few weeks ago and has spent time recuperating at an isolation centre in Lagos, believed the government is doing a terrible job by mandating a nationwide NIN registration amid a ravaging pandemic...
https://www.vanguardngr.com/2021/01/covid-19-enough-of-this-nin-registration-people-are-dying-end-it-now-ojuyah-sends-letter-to-fg/amp/

A High Court in the Federal Capital Territory has ordered a Magistrate, Omolola Akindele, to immediately halt proceedings and stay action in a criminal complaint filed by one Kenechukwu Okeke, against 50 persons who supported the #EndSARS protests.

Justice Bello Kawu also restrained the Nigeria Police Force from arresting or taking any action against the #EndSARS activists...

The Bauchi State Police Command has paraded 22 persons in connection with offences that include thuggery, phone snatching, indecent acts and organising sex party in Dass Local Government Area of the state.

The state Commissioner of police, Lawan Tanko Jimeta, stated this at the command’s headquarter on Wednesday in Bauchi.
CP Jimeta who was represented by the Police Public Relations Officer DSP Ahmed Wakil, said that the command received intelligence report from Dass local government which lead to the successful arrest of the syndicates..

Hmmm..

CNN News: Evidence shows that live rounds were fired on peaceful protesters in Lagos, Nigeria – despite the army’s continued claims that they fired in the air and only used blanks. See the CNN investigation that refutes authorities’ shifting claims.. https://edition.cnn.com/2020/11/18/africa/lagos-nigeria-lekki-toll-gate-feature-intl/index.html