₦airaland Forum

ORLANDO, Fla. – International airports across the country are revealing details as to how the facilities plan to implement and enforce the new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention requirement that travelers test negative for the novel coronavirus prior to arrival in the U.S.
Beginning Jan. 26, all air passengers entering the U.S. will be required to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test prior to being admitted by U.S. Customs. Tests can be taken up to three days in advance and are required for anyone 2 years or older.
Orlando International Airport leaders said Tuesday, a week before the new rule begins, travelers should begin planning for a COVID-19 test prior to booking any air travel.
Airlines will confirm a COVID-19 negative test result or documentation of recovery for all passengers before boarding.
“If a passenger chooses not to take a test, the airline must deny boarding to the passenger,” the CDC said in its statement.
If someone has previously tested positive for coronavirus, they will be required to provide documentation of recovery in the form of a positive test result and a letter from a licensed health care provided or public health official stating that passenger has been cleared for travel.
“This update in international travel requirements should be considered by all travelers before they book any air travel,” Assistant Director of Airport Affairs for the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority Luis Olivero said in a statement. “Research should be done on the availability of testing in the country they are traveling from to ensure passengers are able to board their flight to the U.S.”
Documentation can be in the form of written documentation (paper or electronic copy) of a laboratory test result. Testing must be performed using a NAAT or antigen test, according to the CDC. The test result documentation must include information that identifies the person, a specimen collection date and the type of test.
The U.S. is the latest country to announce new travel restrictions because of a new variant of the coronavirus that is spreading in Britain and elsewhere.
Currently, airline passengers from the United Kingdom need to get negative COVID-19 tests within three days of their trip and provide the results to the airline, the CDC said in a statement. The CDC issued the latest order on Jan. 12, expanding the requirement to all international travelers.
Florida has more reported cases of the virus variant, known as B.1.1.7, than any other state in the U.S., according to the CDC.

Last summer, Dr. Anthony Fauci warned Congress that if the U.S. didn't get the coronavirus outbreak under control, the country could see 100,000 new cases per day.
Six months later, the U.S. is adding, on average, more than 271,000 new cases per day, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Over the past 24 hours, 3,700 new deaths were recorded.
That brings the total number of reported cases in the U.S. to more than 22 million since the start of the outbreak — with a death toll of 373,000.
And many members of Congress are now at heightened risk for contracting the coronavirus. When many House lawmakers sheltered in place in a committee hearing room as the pro-Trump mob attacked the Capitol last week, they may have been exposed to someone infected with the virus, Congress' attending physician, Brian Monahan, said in a letter to lawmakers Sunday.
"The time in this room was several hours for some and briefer for others. During this time, individuals may have been exposed to another occupant with coronavirus infection," read the email, obtained by NPR. "Please continue your usual daily coronavirus risk reduction measures (daily symptom inventory checklist, mask wear, and social distancing). Additionally, individuals should obtain an RT-PCR coronavirus test next week as a precaution."
Several Republican members of Congress refused to wear masks while sheltering with others Wednesday. Video shot from inside one room shows Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Del., offering blue surgical masks to six Republican lawmakers. They all declined. It's unclear if those unmasked Republicans were in the same room as the one referenced by the attending physician.
Whereas earlier in the pandemic, one could easily point to specific hot spots, the virus is now surging in most states across the country. Daily new cases are increasing in almost every state. Arizona is being hit especially hard, as are Rhode Island, Oklahoma, South Carolina and California.
Health officials say things will get worse before they get better. A new more contagious variant of the coronavirus, first spotted in the U.K., has now been reported in several states — leading some to wonder whether the new variant will come to dominate new U.S. infections.
In Southern California, medical troops have arrived to bolster overwhelmed hospital staffs — mostly Air Force nurses and Army medics, the Los Angeles ABC affiliate reports. Temporary morgues have also been set up in parking lots to store the bodies of COVID-19 victims.
Coronavirus vaccines are rolling out, but not quickly enough to stem the surge. The Trump administration's Operation Warp Speed fell far short of its goal of immunizing 20 million people by the end of 2020. As of Friday, 6.6 million people had received their first dose, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The incoming Biden administration announced on Friday it would distribute doses that the government has been holding back for millions of second doses.
States are struggling to meet demand for the vaccines. The New York Times reports that several states vaccination websites have been crashing under the strain of thousands of people all trying to sign up at once. In San Antonio, all 9,000 available slots for this week were filled within six minutes of registration opening, the city said. Some states aren't vetting vaccine recipients to ensure they're eligible, instead relying on the honor system.

The U.S. Capitol Hill is under siege, and American politicians are exposed to the threat of the new crown virus. It seems that at this moment, everyone is worried about the distant United States. I suggest you take a look. Isn't all this caused by these politicians themselves? At any time, human lives are higher than political needs. This is a necessary quality for politicians who can lead the development of our country.

Five African countries including Nigeria are set to be provided with access to $30 million emergency loan for private healthcare providers.
A group of leading philanthropists, investors, donors and technical partners through the Health Finance Coalition is set to support private, small and medium enterprise (SME) health care providers in Nigeria and four other African countries with a new emergency loan guarantee facility of $30 million.
This is according to a disclosure by the Rockefeller Foundation, seen by Nairametrics. The coalition through The Open Doors African Private Healthcare Initiative seeks to unlock $30 million in loans to SMEs in five African countries namely; Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.
What they are saying
WHO Ambassador for Global Strategy and Health Financing and Chair, MCJ Amelior Foundation, Ray Chambers, said:
“With Covid-19 putting tremendous financial pressure on health budgets across Africa, we need creative financing solutions to help governments achieve their ambitious health goals. The Open Doors African Private Healthcare Initiative, which supports private health providers through a blend of grants and return-seeking capital, is a leading example. I hope to see strategies such as this one scaled up in the months to come.” 
The Managing Director, Health Initiatives, U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, Afisa Jiwani, said:
“Covid-19 has posed significant challenges for small- and medium-sized private sector health facilities in Africa. Investing in these important health systems can help countries in sub-Saharan Africa withstand the current pandemic while supporting millions of people who rely on these facilities.”
Why it matters
According to the notice, the funding became imperative given that private sector healthcare providers deliver nearly 50% of all healthcare services in Sub-Saharan Africa, which comprises of vital interventions like early malaria diagnosis and treatment, ante-natal care and routine vaccinations. Therefore, the support is aimed at boosting the capacity and ability of these private healthcare firms in the aforementioned countries to continue in its life-saving services.
In addition, given that the ravaging pandemic is anticipated to affect the income of private healthcare providers in the continent and pose a serious threat to their capacity to provide other services like they normally do, the support is necessary to cushion the identified economic crisis and avert disruption in treatment of other ailments, which is estimated to result to at least 10,000 additional malaria deaths in the continent.
What you should know
The loan facility will be managed by Malaria No More and loans will be administered through the Medical Credit Fund (MCF), a non-profit health investment fund. Loans are expected to average $17,000 per provider to help stabilize operations, buy essential medical equipment including personal protective equipment, and finance small-scale construction to protect patients from COVID-19 infection.
Of the estimated five million patients that the loan facility could impact, about 3 million are low-income patients and approximately 2.4 million are women and 1.4 million are children, who are disproportionately at risk of malaria and other infectious diseases.
The World Health Organization estimated that the sum of $240 billion is needed to annually to bridge the health funding gap in order to achieve SDG 3. Out of this identified gap, the most pressing needs are in sub-Saharan Africa, which bears 93% of global malaria cases and 94% of global malaria deaths. Currently, just 1.6% of the annual $500 billion global impact capital market is invested in the health sector in Africa.
Interested healthcare providers are advised to visit http://www.medicalcreditfund.org/ for more information about application process and other information.

This time last year, the world was heading into a pandemic that would upend everything and cost 1.9 million lives — and counting. The promise of the new year is that vaccines are finally here and offer a way out.
But the vaccination campaign has gotten off to a sluggish start in the U.S. Instead of 20 million people vaccinated by the end of 2020 — a frequent promise of the Trump administration — only around 6 million people have gotten their first dose so far. Explanations for this include the holidays, snowstorms and the need to train health care workers to give the shots.
But case and death counts keep rising, making widespread vaccination more urgent than ever. So how can the U.S. jump-start the COVID-19 vaccination campaign?
NPR talked to more than a dozen public health experts to get their views. Here are their takeaways.
1. Get the money flowing
All the way back in September, CDC Director Robert Redfield testified in Congress that "the time is now" to get billions of dollars for COVID-19 vaccine distribution out to states.
But that didn't happen, and public health officials say the delay in federal funding is in part to blame for the slow start of the vaccination campaign. This week, the federal government announced that some of the nearly $9 billion included in the December COVID-19 relief package is on its way to states.
"We are looking forward to getting that money, which will be critical for several aspects of our response," Dr. Rachel Levine, Pennsylvania's secretary of health and president of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, told NPR in a press briefing. She says the money will be used to contract companies to run community vaccination clinics and execute on a vaccine public awareness campaign.
Kansas health secretary Dr. Lee Norman says the money will allow his state "to purchase some vehicles for mobile vaccination, to bring on additional personnel" and do outreach to communities of color.
Officials expect that it's going to take at least three weeks for that money to get from the CDC to the states, and then more time to get to the front line of the vaccine effort. When it arrives, experts expect the campaign to ramp up quickly.
2. Bring in more vaccines
The two vaccines currently authorized in the U.S. — made by Pfizer and Moderna — are complicated to handle. They're both frozen — one requires storage at ultracold temperatures and dilution in the field — they require patients to be observed for at least 15 minutes after getting their shot, and patients need to return several weeks later for a second dose.
The complexity has slowed things down, and new, simpler vaccine candidates on the horizon could help.
Providers point out that clinical guidance for how to properly administer the two available vaccines came out at the same time that doses were arriving.
"It's not that the vaccines are rolling off the trucks and we're able to administer it immediately," says Dr. Jinlene Chan, deputy secretary of public health services at the Maryland Department of Health. "Training is important to make sure that we deliver the right amount of vaccines for every individual and do it in a safe manner and as efficiently as possible without waste."
Even as health care workers get the hang of handling these Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, officials are looking ahead to other promising vaccine candidates that would add to the available supply.
"We have heard that both Johnson & Johnson as well as AstraZeneca plan to submit their proposals for an [Emergency Use Authorization] by the end of this month or in February," says Levine of ASTHO. "We'll see how the science is and what the FDA and the CDC decide — but potentially the distribution of more vaccines, especially the one-dose Johnson and Johnson [vaccine], would ramp things up significantly."
Neither of these vaccines have the ultracold storage requirements that the Pfizer vaccine does — they can be kept at refrigerator or freezer temperatures for longer, giving planners much more flexibility.
Jason Schwartz, health policy professor at Yale University, agrees that there's a lot of enthusiasm for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. "A one-dose vaccine would be a game changer for the vaccination program here in the United States in the months ahead," he says.
Since many vaccine candidates are already being manufactured and can be ready to go once federal health agencies give the green light, the stock of vaccine that's available could increase very quickly.
And once there are more vaccine doses to go around, "we can distribute more generously to doctors' offices, federally qualified health care centers, rural health centers, chain pharmacies, retail pharmacies, community pharmacies — we can't distribute to all of those places if we don't have enough quantity," says Kentucky public health commissioner Dr. Steven Stack.
3. Open up the 'mega-sites'
So far, the vaccines have been mostly delivered to hospitals to reach front-line health workers and long-term care facilities for residents and staff.
But several states, including New Jersey and Texas, are starting up "mega-sites" — vaccination clinics designed to vaccinate hundreds or thousands of people each day. More of these venues will likely crop up across the country as federal funding allows health officials to hire temporary staff and pay for space and supplies, and as soon as the supply of vaccine is steady enough to keep these clinics stocked at full volume.
There should be "mass vaccination clinics in high school gymnasiums, convention centers and mall parking lots in every county in America," says Yale's Schwartz. These types of sites will be essential as the pool of people eligible to get vaccinated expands.
The key to making this work at the scale needed is federal funding and logistical support, Schwartz argues, since hospitals are already overstretched caring for COVID-19 patients, and local and state governments don't have the money to pull it off on their own.
4. Make the supply more predictable
If vaccine providers have doses of vaccine ready to go, but no one is scheduled to receive them, that's a problem. It's also a problem if there are patients scheduled — but no vaccine.
"[Once], our Moderna shipment just didn't show up; we have no idea where it went," says Dr. Grace Lee, a medical officer at Stanford Children's Hospital who serves as a vaccine adviser for the CDC and California. "We were planning around those doses, so we had to slow down for a little bit."
A match between supply and demand is key to making the vaccination campaign go smoothly. There was a major hiccup at the federal level early on: General Gus Perna, the logistics lead of Operation Warp Speed, had to apologize for telling states that more vaccine would be available than was actually ready to go. State and local officials say predictability has gotten better, but there are still inconsistencies.
A steadier supply of vaccine doses would help vaccine providers plan so that there are patients ready to go for every dose that comes in.
5. Unleash the public awareness campaigns
There's one more key to a speedy vaccine rollout: a public ready and eager to get vaccinated. Health officials in Kentucky, Ohio and other states say that hesitancy has slowed down their vaccination campaigns.
To combat misinformation and reassure the public that the vaccines are safe and effective, comprehensive public awareness campaigns will be crucial. That includes national efforts from the incoming Biden administration and a $50 million ad campaign planned by the Ad Council, alongside state and local efforts to get the word out.
"States need to have vaccine confidence outreach teams that are fully resourced to go out into communities and educate members of the public about the importance of these vaccines," says Dr. Kelly Moore, deputy director of the nonprofit advocacy group the Immunization Action Coalition. Those teams will need "to answer their questions, to dispel myths, to encourage them to make a decision to be vaccinated and to communicate with them about how they receive the vaccine in their own state."
The effort needs to be state-specific since every state has a slightly different distribution plan, says Adriane Casalotti, chief of government and public affairs at NACCHO, the National Association of County and City Health Officials. Otherwise, "people are watching the nightly news and really trying to figure out, 'Why do these people have access but these people [in another state] don't?' "
In Michigan, at the Washtenaw County Health Department, there's a team dedicated to answering emails and calls about vaccine distribution. "We've been inundated for weeks now with questions about 'When and where can I get my vaccine?' " says spokesperson Susan Ringler-Cerniglia. "It's been a challenge because people want and expect us to be able to tell them this date and this time, and we're just not there yet."
As the long-awaited federal funding comes in and health departments are able to ramp up vaccine administration and activate their communication plans, they're hoping to be able to get those answers out to the public soon.
Looking at this news report, in addition to helping to understand the new crown epidemic in the United States, which can provide a reference for our country’s epidemic prevention actions, we have also seen that the vaccine promoted by Trump can solve all problems is only a lie. The question is, who is responsible? Trump? Maybe, but he is now packing his luggage and preparing to leave the White House.
What about our country? I think we must be clear that effective actions must be built on a certain basis. If we cannot strictly abide by the scientific laws of fighting the epidemic and cannot actively cooperate with the government, Then, we can only pray that we will get a 100% effective vaccine tomorrow.

Friends are mourning the death of longtime Olive Branch physician Dr. Edward Gbemudu, who died from COVID-19 while visiting his home country of Nigeria.
It’s believed Gbemudu, who was also on the staff at Baptist Hospital DeSoto, contracted the virus while attending a funeral. He was hospitalized, but he never recovered.
A close friend said the doctor cared deeply about his patients, and he will be missed.
“He’s a very compassionate and caring physician who takes the best medical approach to assist his patients feel better and never give up on his patients,” said Dr. Emmanuel Obi, who practices in Internal Medicine in Brownsville.
Obi spoke fondly of Gbemudu and said the doctor begin experiencing symptoms once he returned from Nigeria.
“He traveled on the 15th of December, and then on the 25th of December he started having symptoms. In less than one week, he was dead,” Obi said. “I talked to him, and he was on a 100-percent oxygen, but somehow on Thursday, on Friday January 1st, his condition just went for the worst.”
Obi said the hospital didn’t have a respirator. He arranged to get one for his good friend, but it would take two hours.
“By the time the respirator got to his hospital, he was gone,” Obi said. “It just happened so fast.”
Obi said once the virus started its deadly rampage, nothing seemed to be able to stop it.
“He had all the medical therapy that is available here in the United States,” Obi said. “He had it there, but he just did not respond. So on January 1st was when he took his last breath.”
In Olive Branch at the medical clinic where Doctor Gbemudu practiced, staff members were too upset to talk on camera. A wreath on the front door conveying their love and admiration for the doctor.

As Nigeria prepares to receive its first consignment of COVID-19 vaccines, two scientists have cautioned the Federal Government against a mass COVID-19 vaccination plan.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, in December 2020 revealed that the Federal Government had planned to acquire vaccines worth N400 billion.

Now that the virus has mutated, the originally developed vaccine can no longer meet the demand. Many people with vaccines on the market have had adverse reactions, which is also worrying.

Representative of Kaduna Central in the eighth National Assembly, Senator Shehu Sani, has warned that the COVID19 vaccines, which the Federal Government planned to import with N400 billion, might lose potency and get contaminated before arriving Nigeria and administration on the people.
He argued that political office holders barely listen to experts, adding that the decision might lead to waste of resources and threat to lives if government goes ahead to procure the therapy without putting necessary measures in place to store them at the temperature prescribed by their manufacturers.
Sani, who was a guest at the yearly meeting/ENT book launch organised by the Association of Resident Doctors (ARD) at the National Ear Care Centre in Kaduna, urged medical professionals nationwide to advise government on how best to preserve the vaccines.
He explained that most of the vaccines needed less than 70 Degree Celsius, fearing that unstable power supply could affect their effectiveness.
The activist observed: “Recently, Pfizer and AstraZeneca found vaccines for COVI-19, and the Federal Government was reported that it would use about N400 billion to import them.
“But those vaccines have condition that they must be stored in minus 70 Degree Celsius.
“So, if you import the vaccines, they will bring them either by flight or ship to Lagos. What happens from there? Remember they say minus 70 Degree Celsius. How do we cope with that?
“Before the vaccine moves from Lagos to Sokoto to Katsina to Maiduguri to Yola, how many days will it take? With which electricity will you store them at minus 70 Degree Celsius?
“I believe that centres like this will have a role to play in terms of advising politicians on what to do.”
He continued: “What is the essence of importing a vaccine that you don’t have the temperature to store it?
“And if you have one million people, how many will you be able to vaccinate?
In her remarks, former Executive Secretary of Kaduna State Supply Management Agency (KSSMA), Rahmatu Abubakar, maintained that the vaccines could be procured, but doubted the possibility of getting them across to the targeted users.
“This would led to waste of resources,” she said.

Brazzaville, 30 December 2020 – With the recent emergence in the African region of new COVID-19 variants which seem to have higher transmissibility, the World Health Organization (WHO) calls on countries to boost genomic surveillance and analysis through the African genome sequencing laboratory network to detect any new mutations and strengthen the efforts to curb the pandemic.
South Africa recently detected a new SARS-CoV-2 variant, which appears to transmit more easily and is likely linked to the ongoing surge of COVID-19 infections in the country. Further analysis is underway to determine the full epidemiological significance of this mutation. Nigeria is also carrying out more investigations on a variant identified in samples collected in August and October.
“The emergence of new COVID-19 variants is common. However, those with higher speed of transmission or potentially increased pathogenicity are very concerning. Crucial investigations are underway to comprehensively understand the behaviour of the new mutant virus and steer response accordingly,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa.
In September 2020, WHO and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention launched network of 12 laboratories in Africa to reinforce genome sequencing of the SARS-CoV-2. As of 23 December, 4948 sequences had been produced in the region, representing just 2% of the 295 101 sequences done so far worldwide.
South Africa, which has carried out most of the 4948 sequences, has identified 35 SARS-CoV-2 lineages, and Nigeria 18. Grouping viruses from different countries into the same lineage or sub-lineage shows linkage or importation of viruses between countries.
The WHO Regional Office for Africa is providing technical guidance and mobilizing additional financial support to speed up the genomic sequencing in most countries in the region as well as assisting in shipping samples to regional reference laboratories from countries that do not have specialized diagnostic facilities.
“While surveillance and detection of COVID-19 are critical components of the response to the pandemic, public health measures such as handwashing, physical distancing and wearing of masks also remain key to limiting infection,” said Dr Moeti. “The current preventive measures are effective even on the new SARS-CoV-2 variants.”
The new variants have emerged as COVID-19 infections are on the rise in the 47 countries in the WHO African region, nearly reaching the peak seen in July. In the past 28 days, Algeria, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda have reported the highest number of new cases, accounting for 90% of all the infections in the region.

Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said on Sunday that a new strain of COVID-19 believed to have originated in the U.K. is “probably here” in the U.S.
“Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan asked Gottlieb if he thought the measures that the federal government has taken to fight the new strain by requiring negative COVID-19 tests from all air passengers arriving from the U.K. would have an impact.
“Well, I think it's probably here in the United States, and it could be here in a reasonable number at this point,” Gottlieb responded.
Gottlieb said the U.S. needs a better way to sequence and track the strains of the coronavirus that are currently circulating.
"We don't sequence a lot of samples in this country, and a lot of that sequencing that does get done gets done in private labs and doesn't get aggregated into public databases. That needs to be fixed," Gottlieb said. "In the U.K., they're sequencing about 10 percent of all the samples. Here we're doing a fraction of 1 percent."
In response to the newly detected strain, many countries have limited or banned travel to and from the U.K. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) last week put in place a 14-day quarantine requirement for travelers arriving to his state from the U.K., while many other lawmakers, including New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), have called for stricter restrictions.
Brennan also asked Gottlieb for this thoughts on the rate at which vaccines have been distributed and administered. She noted that 9 million doses of the two approved vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna have been distributed and a little more than a million people have received a vaccine.
"The pace is slower than what was stated. I think it's probably realistic to think that the pace is going to be a little bit slower, especially as we try to move through hard-to-vaccinate populations next month," said Gottlieb.
"I suspect there's more than a million who have been vaccinated. There's a lag in reporting. But the idea that we're going to get to 20 million vaccines, vaccinations, by the end of the year, that's probably unrealistic at this point."

We don't know what will happen in the future. We just ask that we can live for now.

The recent increase in the haulage cost of moving containers from the Apapa port has elicited an uproar, as Nigerians expressed their reservations via social media.
The development is a result of the monetary and implicit cost impact of the recent gridlock on operators, as the increase in the number of shipments arriving at the port, poor road infrastructure and alleged law enforcement breakdown at the port has led to exorbitant payments.
The gridlock has translated to higher detention and demurrage cost of moving shipments at the port, as freight operators painfully haul their shipment from the port terminal.
Haulage cost continues to bite into the profits of the businesses of Nigerians and adversely affect freight companies and port operators, as these entities have to pay huge sums, running to millions of naira, just to move a container from the terminals.
However, the prospects of new investments in this space looks gloomy, with existing operators battling with the astronomical increase in detention and demurrage charges, as the only option of moving shipment by road is a tough alternative, owing to the poor transportation infrastructure and the underdeveloped rail network and high demand for freight logistics services.
This reality continues to mount pressure on stakeholders in the sector and Nigerians in general, as the prices of commodities are hugely impacted.

The Nigerian Senate has agreed to pass the appropriation bill of N13.588 trillion, which is N505 billion higher than the proposed N13.082 trillion Buhari presented to the Senate in October for 2021 budget.
This was disclosed by the Nigerian Senate in a statement during plenary session on Monday.
Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, said the Senate worked hard to “meet the deadline of passing the 2021 Budget before we go on Christmas break.”
The 2021 budget passed by the Senate is an increase of 31.9% from the approved N10.3 trillion FGN budget for 2020.
The parameters & fiscal assumptions underpinning the 2021 appropriation
Benchmark oil price of 40 US Dollars per barrel.
Daily oil production estimate of 1.86 million barrels (inclusive of Condensates of 300,000 to 400,000 barrels per day).
Exchange rate of N379 per US Dollar.
GDP growth projected at 3.0 percent.
Inflation closing at 11.95 percent.
What you should know 
Nairametrics reported that President Muhammadu Buhari presented a budget of N13.08 trillion to the National Assembly in October.
The Senate, on Wednesday, passed an executive communication from President Muhammadu Buhari, seeking the extension of the implementation of the capital aspects of the 2020 Appropriation Act, from December 31, 2020 to March 31, 2021.

On Friday, just one week after Pfizer and BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine received a federal green light, the Food and Drug Administration formally authorized a second vaccine for emergency use — this one developed by Moderna. The biotech upstart won authorization for use in adults following extensive federal analysis of the vaccine, which the FDA found to be 94% effective at preventing the disease.
"With the availability of two vaccines now for the prevention of COVID-19, the FDA has taken another crucial step in the fight against this global pandemic that is causing vast numbers of hospitalizations and deaths in the United States each day," said a statement by FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen M. Hahn.
The FDA decision represents another leap forward in the effort to combat the coronavirus, which has already killed more than 300,000 people in the U.S. alone. Since the Pfizer vaccine's authorization last week, health and defense officials have launched a vast effort to distribute millions of doses across the country. Health care workers and older adults were first in line for the inoculations when providers began administering them Monday.

"This antibody producing immune response can protect us from infection even if the real virus enters our body." So sure? I don't believe it.

At its monthly meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, members of the National Economic Council, (NEC) on Thursday, expressed alarm at the spike in COVID-19 cases in Nigeria and decided to act on the strict enforcement of measures to contain the spread of the disease across the country.
In a resolution released after the virtual meeting attended by State Governors, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory and other federal ministers, the Council noted that it “is alarmed that the current trends are now approaching or surpassing the levels reached during the lockdown imposed at the height of the epidemic earlier in the year.”
The NEC also enlarged the membership of its Ad-Hoc Committee on COVID-19 and mandated it to urgently come up with additional measures to deal with the spike in cases.
NEC noted that “the country is now experiencing a huge resurgence of COVID-19 patients needing intensive care and the existing health facilities are fast becoming overwhelmed.”
Committee
The Committee, chaired by the Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa with the Governors of Lagos, Bauchi, Plateau, Kano, Anambra and the FCT Minister, has now been enlarged with the addition of the Governors of Ogun and Kaduna.
The Minister of Health is also a member of the Committee, while the Federal Ministers of Information and Youth and Sports have also been asked to join.
Also, Health and Information Commissioners in the States would also now be co-opted into the assignment. The Vice President asked the Committee to urgently develop innovative and new measures to curtail the spread of the disease, acting in the best interests of both the health and overall welfare of Nigerians.
Below are further highlights of today’s NEC meeting including the resolution as indicated in a press statement released by Laolu Akande, the spokesperson of Mr Osinbajo

Fifty percent of low-income Americans reported skipping care in the past year because of the cost, compared to just 12% to 15% of adults with lower income in Germany, the U.K., Norway and France.
COVID-19 is having a greater health and economic impact on low-income Americans than on their counterparts in other wealthy nations.
The 2020 Commonwealth Fund International Health Policy Survey compared the health experiences of adults with lower income and income-related disparities across 11 countries: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. Among the key findings:
Adults with lower income in the United States are sicker and most likely to struggle to make ends meet. Across every measure the study looked at, people with lower income in the United States suffered more than in other countries:
More than one-third of U.S. adults with lower income have two or more chronic conditions, significantly more than in other countries.
Approximately one-third of adults with lower income in the United States, Australia and Canada reported having anxiety or depression, the highest rates in the survey. Their counterparts in Germany and Switzerland were the least likely to report these conditions.
More than one-quarter of U.S. adults with lower income said that, in the past year, they worried about being able to afford basic necessities such as food or housing, a significantly greater proportion than seen in other countries, where 6% to 22% reported this.
Half of U.S. adults with lower income skip needed care because of costs. Fifty percent reported skipping doctor visits, recommended tests, treatments, follow-up care or prescription medications in the past year because of the cost. In contrast, just 12% to 15% of adults with lower income in Germany, the U.K., Norway and France reported this. Difficulty with paying medical bills is mostly a U.S. phenomenon: 36% of U.S. adults with low incomes reported this problem. That is significantly more than in all other countries, where rates ranged from 7% to 16%.

The Trump administration is defending its efforts to vaccinate Americans first, pointing to the significant U.S. taxpayer investment in developing the coronavirus vaccines at record speed.

"Help is coming. We will be providing vaccines around the world," a State Department official told ABC News Wednesday. "But at the end of the day, these products were paid for and often produced by Americans, and they should have the right to have access to them first."


But notably, the official also offered another key reason: "The United States is the epicenter of the pandemic. We are the country that has the most cases, the highest percentage of COVID rates. It is very important for us to make sure that Americans receive this vaccine and receive it first," the official said in an interview.

Under an executive order President Donald Trump signed Tuesday, the U.S. will begin providing vaccines overseas once the domestic demand has been satisfied.

The decision has been met by criticism in some corners, particularly the People's Vaccine Allowance, a collective including Amnesty International, Frontline AIDS, Global Justice Now and Oxfam, that on Wednesday accused wealthy nations of "hoarding" the vaccine and warned that nine out of 10 people in poor countries won't be vaccinated until 2022.

"The hoarding of vaccines actively undermines global efforts to ensure that everyone, everywhere can be protected from COVID-19," said Steve Cockburn of Amnesty. "Instead, by working with others to share knowledge and scale up supply, they could help bring an end to the global COVID-19 crisis."

But Trump made clear Tuesday that his priority is the American people, signing an order that said in part, "It is the policy of the United States to ensure Americans have priority access to free, safe, and effective COVID-19 vaccines."

While the details were slim during his signing ceremony, the State Department official said the plan, months in the works, is coming together and will be led by a committee of State Department, USAID and Department of Health and Human Services employees.

Up to 5.1 million people risk being critically food insecure during the next lean season (June - August 2021), a level similar to 2016-2017 when famine was looming over Borno State

The UN Central Emergency Fund has allocated $15 million for urgent food aid. The Humanitarian Coordinator has called for the international community to follow and step up support

The number of people in need of urgent assistance in north-east Nigeria rose from 7.9 million at the beginning of 2020 to 10.6 million since the onset of COVID-19

Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states recorded COVID-19 cases, some in IDP camps. Aid actors have adapted the response, including setting up hand washing stations and quarantine shelters

Despite challenges, aid workers have already reached over 3.6 million people with life-saving assistance in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states since the beginning of the year.

EIGHTY-seven per cent of Women-Owned Businesses (WOBs) in Nigeria were shaken and set aback by the destabilising impact of Covid-19, a survey has proven. This was part findings on a larger survey which revealed the extent to which almost 600 WOBs worldwide were adversely affected and still being impacted by the pandemic.
The development informed the organising of an intervention programme, tagged “National Survey and Sensitization on the Impacts of Covid-19 Pandemic on WOBs in Nigeria”, which attracted women business owners and managers from around the South-South to Port Harcourt, Rivers, at the instance of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC).
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NEPC, Olusegun Awolowo, said on the occasion that NEPC wants to use the export market to help Nigerian businesswomen overcome the debilitating impact of the Covid-19 that ravaged the Nigerian economy into recession.
The NEPC CEO, represented by the South-South Zonal Coordinator, Joe Itah, said most WOBs experienced significant decline in employee morale, sales or revenue, difficulty in securing funds to remain operational and adjusting of products or services to remain relevant in response to the economic challenges.
He said, “On this premise, the Women-in-Export Division conducted a national survey, using this State as a pilot centre to assess the immediate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular, the lockdown on women-owned businesses.
“The Division intends to use the opportunity to sensitize the women on how to mitigate risks of the crisis as well as assist WOBs in designing a business resilient path to survive, especially during a crisis.”
The women were acquainted with the new trends and dynamics in the export business and the need to synergize with other stakeholders to access export opportunities. Enlightenment lectures were focused on ‘Impact of Covid-19 on WOBs in Nigeria’ by resource person, Onu Leticia and ‘Venturing into the Export Market; NEPC Intervention’, which was delivered by Sherifat Omokide.
The lectures brought participants up to speed on initiating an export business, fund support sources, building linkages, products and services packaging, measuring up to best practices and staying afloat under economic crisis among other areas of concern.
A participant, Ekpu Victoria, from Bayelsa State, commended NEPC for the initiative which she said has further opened her eyes on existing opportunities in the post-pandemic era.

Due to the objective existence of gender inequality, women in our country are under more pressure. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, various industries have suffered serious setbacks. In this case, paying attention to female companies will help reduce economic losses on the one hand, and on the other hand will help improve the status of women and further improve our political and economic environment. Thereby increasing our country’s international competitiveness.

Close to 54,000 health workers in Africa have tested positive for COVID-19 in countries which have reported such cases, the World Health Organization said on Monday.
“Nearly 54,000 health workers in the African Region have been infected with COVID-19, many of them nurses,” the W.H.O. said.
With the continent having reported more than 2.2 million positive cases so far, this translates to roughly less than three percent of the total number of cases.
The W.H.O. had attributed the infection of health workers to various factors including inadequate access to personal protective equipment, exposure to patients who do not show signs of the disease and repurposing of health workers for COVID-19 response without adequate briefing.
The W.H.O. said it has been working with health authorities across the continent to reduce health worker infections through providing guidance, trainings and essential supplies.
The global health agency has repeatedly called for health workers to be given the necessary equipment, skills and information to protect themselves.
Health workers in several countries across the continent, like Kenya, Zimbabwe, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, have gone on strike this year due to COVID-19-related challenges.

The Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) has announced plans to reduce case fatalities of the Covid-19 pandemic by focusing on improving the capability to manage the virus.
This was disclosed by the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, during the daily Joint National Briefing of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on Covid-19 in Abuja.
The Minister said that the ministry plans to increase its capacity to battle the disease through personnel supervision.
He said, “We hope to reduce case fatalities by strengthening our capacity to manage cases, but it is only possible if persons test themselves early. All cases, whether home-based or institutional are to be supervised by medical personnel. This is particularly important, given the threat posed by the spiralling rate of infection in countries with which Nigeria has strong political, business, social, and family relations.”
He urged Nigerians to cut off travel to high-risk countries, as the travel rate determines the risk the ministry could contain with.
“There is a correspondingly high volume of travel between Nigeria and those countries, which is what also determines the risk. I also urge all Nigerians to cut off all travels, especially international travels, most especially travels to high risk countries, except it is very urgent.”
He stated that it might take Nigeria a while before securing the vaccines, even though the country had started the process of securing access to a vaccine.
“Although we are positioning our country for access to the Covid-19 vaccine, it may still take a while for countries to access it and for all citizens to be vaccinated. It is, therefore, more realistic that we adopt preventive measures which have proven to be successful in controlling the pandemic,” Ehanire added.

The Presidential Job Pressure (PTF) on COVID-19 has expressed concern over the psychological state of survivors of COVID-19 within the nation.
Boss Mustapha, the Secretary to the Authorities of the Federation and Chairman of the taskforce, expressed the priority in Abuja on the joint nationwide briefing of the taskforce.
“The PTF continues to be very a lot involved in regards to the psychological well being of survivors of the COVID-19 virus.
“On this regard, the PTF is following experiences from researches around the globe concerning the state of psychiatric well being of survivors and has intensified plans for in-country response below the remedy and post-treatment regimes,” Mustapha mentioned.
Mustapha mentioned monitoring the worldwide state of affairs would significantly assist in the planning of journeys.
He famous that the worldwide instances crossed the 52 million mark with USA, India and Brazil accounting for 48 % of all world cumulative burden.
“The USA has been recording over 100,000 instances day by day in current instances and the speed of fatalities is rising within the UK and different European international locations.
“5 international locations (USA, Brazil, India, Mexico and UK) account for 53 % (685,176) of worldwide deaths. On the African continent, Morocco, South Africa and Tunisia reported the very best instances within the final 24 hours.
“The variety of instances has been fluctuating these days and that is a sign that we’re not out of the woods but.
“The instances in Lagos the place a number of infections have been recorded in two colleges are typical examples of the hazard of reopening establishments with out the required measures.
“We should all rally spherical one another to cease this pandemic from destroying our lives and financial system.
” The PTF believes strongly that now’s the time to boost the tempo of not simply our nationwide response but in addition our preparedness for a brand new wave of the pandemic or another epidemic for that matter.
” For instance, it has been strongly noticed that locations of worship, gatherings and different occasions have dumped using face masks and adherence to different NPIs,” he mentioned.
He urged all Nigerians to come back out for normal testing.
“Mauritius has the very best assessments per million (218,535) whereas Nigeria stands at 3,605 per million. That is grossly too low to be at a snug stage of defeating the pandemic contemplating the scale of our inhabitants,” he mentioned.
The SGF additionally commiserated with the president in addition to the federal government and folks of Ghana over the dying of a former president of that nation, Jerry Rawlings.
He additional expressed condolences on the dying of Saeb Erakat, the Palestine Liberation Organisation Chief Negotiator.
” We additionally commiserate with the Palestinian authority on this nice loss.
” This may little doubt have an amazing affect on the peace course of within the Center-East,” Mustapha mentioned.

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele has said that the challenges facing Nigeria’s economy are of a global dimension and not peculiar to Nigeria.
Emefiele said this while given his speech at the 55th Annual Bankers Dinner hosted by the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) 0n Friday, November 27, 2020.
In his opening address, Mr. Emefiele congratulated the CIBN for the annual event, which he was attending for the sixth time since assuming the role of CBN Governor in June 2014.
According to him, each of the dinners provided him ample opportunity to discuss with the key stakeholders in the banking and finance community on critical issues and events shaping the economy, as well as policy measures put in place by the CBN towards revamping and growing the economy.
He enumerated several issues and challenges facing the economy, which were not peculiar to Nigeria but global. Hence, nothing for the country to panic about.
Mr. Emefiele said, “Like other economies, the Nigerian economy was not immune from the COVID-19 shock in 2020. Nigeria’s gross domestic product (GDP) contracted by -3.4 percent in the third quarter, a welcome improvement from the – 6.1 percent recorded in the second quarter. The negative rate of growth was due to a series of external factors in addition to the lockdown measures, imposed in order to curtail the spread of the virus.”
Emefiele challenged the banks to optimally harness the huge value-chain opportunities in several sectors of the economy through their intermediation functions, saying:
“Let me also add that while COVID-19 has brought on several challenges to our economy and indeed the banking sector, it offers a unique opportunity for us to build a more resilient economy that is better able to contain external shocks, whilst supporting growth and wealth creation in key sectors of our economy.
“Proactive steps on the part of stakeholders in the banking and financial system in supporting the growth of sectors such as agriculture, ICT and infrastructure, will strengthen our ability to deal with the challenges that have been brought on by COVID-19, while enabling the growth of our economy in general.”

United States President-elect Joe Biden has officially introduced the first members of his cabinet, an array of foreign policy and national security nominees who he says will seek to restore international agreements and bolster relationships with allies after four years of President Donald Trump’s divisive “America First” policies.
In particular, Biden – and notably his nominees for Secretary of State, Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan – have outlined a dramatic shift in Middle East policy that will emphasise diplomacy and human rights. Biden also nominated career diplomat Linda Thomas-Greenfield for US Ambassador to the United Nations.
Experts say the new policy approach will include more pressure on Saudi Arabia and Egypt over human rights, a mission to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, and a relaunch of attempts – with less concession for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – to bring Palestinian and Israeli officials back to the negotiating table.
The new administration will likely first realign “the US with Europe, including the EU [European Union] and NATO and the individual EU countries before making any major moves,” said William Lawrence, an American University lecturer and former US Department of State official under the administration of President Barack Obama.
The Biden administration will “then try to act in a way which stabilises conflict areas” in the Middle East and “moves towards ceasefires and peace deals while spending more US effort taking care of the victims of these conflicts,” Lawrence told Al Jazeera.

A 15-year-old cancer survivor died from Covid-19 after contracting the virus in October, Kentucky officials said.
Alexa Rose Veit, who was born with special needs and survived a bout with Leukemia in 2019, first began exhibiting symptoms October 26 and underwent a routine Covid-19 test. Her mother also began feeling unwell and was tested. A few days later, both learned they were positive, according to a statement from Ballard County Emergency Management Director Travis Holder.
Her mother’s symptoms worsened and she was hospitalized and placed on a ventilator, while Veit’s symptoms remained mild, Holder said. During this time, Veit’s grandparents also were hospitalized for Covid-19.
Veit’s symptoms continued to worsen, and she was eventually hospitalized in Nashville, Tennessee, after developing pneumonia. Her older sister, who had recently recovered from Covid-19, accompanied her as their mother was still hospitalized.
Veit’s condition continued to deteriorate, and she, too, was placed on a ventilator. She died November 15, one day after her mother was released from the hospital and rushed to be at her daughter’s side.
Veit, who was a freshman at Ballard Memorial High School in Barlow, Kentucky, was described as a “social butterfly” whose infectious smile could brighten anyone's day.
“Our world is a little less bright today without Alexa in it, and she will be missed always,” Ballard Memorial High School wrote on its Facebook page.
Holder implored residents to take the virus seriously and take precautions to protect the vulnerable members of the community.
Veit was the first school-aged child to die from Covid-19 in the state, according to Holder. Kentucky has reported more than 160,000 cases and more than 1,700 deaths.

NEW YORK: New York announced Wednesday it would close schools to battle a rise in coronavirus infections as the death rate in Europe surged and protests against restrictions turned violent.
The toughened measures in America’s most-populous city came despite Pharma giant Pfizer boosting hopes of a possible end to the pandemic by announcing improved results for its vaccine.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said New York’s 1,800 public schools would revert to remote learning from Thursday after the city recorded a seven-day average positivity rate of 3%.
“We must fight back the second wave of Covid-19,” he said.
US states and cities are imposing a raft of new restrictions, including home confinement, the closure of indoor dining and a limit on gatherings as cases soar across the country.
Europe remains the hardest-hit region, accounting for 46% of new global cases and 49% of deaths last week, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
While infection rates in Europe have slowed, the WHO on Wednesday said the death rate went up by 18% last week from the previous week.
The figures showed the only region where cases and deaths declined last week was Southeast Asia.
Worldwide, more than 1.3 million people have died of Covid-19 and over 55 million have been infected with the virus since it first surfaced in China late last year, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP.
In Switzerland, one of the worst-hit countries in Europe, the Swiss Society for Intensive Care Medicine (SSMI) warned that intensive care units “are practically all full”.
More beds have been added, and the Swiss military has been called in to support efforts in several areas.

The Lagos State Government yesterday warned worship centres and residents of the state not to let down their guard as Nigeria is yet to win the battle against COVID-19.
The state government urged religious centres and residents to intensify adherence to safety protocols to avert a second wave of the virus.
It also called on the residents to eschew violence and tolerate one another in order to continue to enjoy peaceful coexistence.
Speaking at the 2020 International Day for Tolerance, in Lagos, the state Commissioner for Home Affairs, Prince Anofiu Elegushi, said there was a need for the worship centres to take the issue of safety protocol adherence seriously to avoid another spike in the pandemic.
He warned that the state government may be forced to sanction any religious house that failed to obey or comply with the regulations to combat COVID-19.
He said there was no time to play with the safety of the worshipers and that of the residents by not complying with the COVID-19 preventive measures.
The commissioner said the state government would continue to need the level of tolerance and cooperation received during the spike of the pandemic, adding that the cooperation assisted it in achieving the success it recorded and the rate at which the COVID-19 curve was flattened.
He said: "At this juncture, let me reiterate and admonish our beloved people not to relent supporting and understanding the efforts of the Lagos State Government, we should not let down our guards, as it is not yet "Uhuru.".
"The battle against this dreaded virus is yet to be over. All guidelines and safety protocols of militating against the COVlD-19 should still be stringently adhered to.
"We are all aware that some countries such as the United States of America, the United Kingdom and France, among others, are currently experiencing the second wave of the virus. We cannot afford to allow this to happen. I beseech us to continue to use our face masks, wash our hands frequently and maintain social distance in public places while also using alcohol-based hand sanitisers from time to time to combat infection or transmission. I believe together, we shall overcome the scourge."
Elegushi commended Lagos residents for being tolerant with one another; saying during the spike of the pandemic, residents exemplified a high sense of humanity as everyone looked out for the wellbeing and welfare of one another.
He added that the state has faced several health and economic challenges at this time, but God has been benevolent to Nigeria generally and Lagos State in particular.