₦airaland Forum

The Republics of Gambia, Ghana and other countries have pledged their support for Nigeria’s candidate for Secretary General of Maritime Organisation for West and Central Africa (MOWCA), Dr. Paul Adalikwu.
Gambia Minister of Transport, Hon Bai Lamin Jobe, who reiterated his country’s endorsement of Nigerian candidate in Banjul, recently, said MOWCA was in need of a vibrant leadership with ideas, which Nigeria has to offer.
Jobe, who played host to the Nigerian government delegation to solicit support from his country, told Nigerian Minister of State for Transportation, Senator Gbemisola Saraki, that her mission to his country was successful as Gambia would fully support Nigeria.
He said MOWCA has failed in the last 10 years to meet the yearnings and expectations of member states with regards to its objectives of promoting maritime trade, safer and environmentally efficient shipping among its member countries.
He disclosed further that his office contacted the maritime administration and ports authority of Gambia for advice ahead of the Nigerian delegation visit and got positive responses advising him to support the country.
He said: “My country is in support of your candidate. When we received your message about this visit and the purpose for which you are coming, I consulted our maritime administration and ports authority for advice. Their advice about you and your mission is very positive.
“I have also done some research on your candidate and I find him eminently qualified and fit for the job. He is young and we are looking up to people like him to come to MOWCA and change things for the better.I can tell you that in the last ten years , MOWCA has not lived up to expectations. I really don’t understand why they chose to operate like that.”
“As a member of the Governing Council of the Regional Maritime University in Ghana, I keep hearing them mention MOWCA as a critical stakeholder organisation to the institution but it has never showed up for once or participated in anything being done there.This move by Nigeria to us is a welcome development and I am pleased to inform you that your visit to us is very successful” Jobe said.
Last week, Ghanaian Transport Minister, Kweku Ofori Asiamah, urged stakeholders of the 25-member countries organisation to rally round the Nigerian candidate.
Asiamah expressed optimism in a more vibrant MOWCA if Adalikwu emerges describing his candidacy as very timely.
The Ghanaian minister also commended Nigerian government on its sustained investment and drive towards maritime security particularly in the Gulf of Guinea where piracy and other maritime crimes are being tackled.
Earlier in her address, Senator Saraki said it is the first time Nigeria is seeking to produce a Secretary General for MOWCA in the 46-year history of the multilateral body.
While calling for the cooperation, Saraki said it was time West and Central African countries look inward and harmonies their positions like other regions and continents do before international elections.
She conveyed President Muhammadu Buhari’s support, which was expressed through his approval for Nigeria to contest in MOWCA and Category C council membership of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), which comes later in the year.
Saraki said Nigeria had been very committed to the growth and sustenance of MOWCA from inception through financial contributions and prompt attendance of events convened by the organisation.
She added that Nigeria has been at the fore of helping successive MOWCA leaderships to succeed and therefore deserve same support she is seeking for the first time
Ghana, Equatorial Guinea, Sierra Leone and Democratic Republic of Congo have written to convey their support for Adalikwu as next SG of MOWCA while Cameroun, Niger Republic, Cote D’Voire and Gambia have expressed verbal support through top government functionaries.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has published the ninth instalment of its COVID-19 impact monitoring, a survey of 1,950 Nigerian households that it runs with backing from the World Bank. The latest survey was held in January '21 at a time when some restrictions, including those on large gatherings, were reintroduced to combat rising COVID-19 cases. The first series of the survey which was conducted in April/May '20 coincided with the initial lockdown. Although business activities have picked up since January, enforcement of strict COVID-19 safety compliant guidelines continue to take place. The ninth instalment also collected information on early childhood development (ECD), access to health services, and changes in the price of major food items consumed.
Due to the pandemic schools in Nigeria (same as in other countries) were closed for the majority of the 2019/20 school year. Given that most schools in the country do not have the infrastructure to conduct online education, most children did not have direct access to learning opportunities during the period.
While face-to-face learning and the use of printed teaching materials seem to be the main channel of learning, children in high or middle-income households had more access to learning through television, smartphones, or tablets. About 30% of households surveyed indicated that including more hours to the school day is an ideal strategy to assist with recovering the learning lost to school closures in 2020.
This instalment also focused on establishing trends for the prices of major food items consumed by households. Broadly, households reported that the prices of core food items posted significant y/y increases in January 2021. This trend is mirrored in the inflation reports released by the NBS. Food price inflation remains the major driver behind the steady acceleration in headline inflation.  While rising food prices could benefit net producers, many households are experiencing a weakening of purchasing power.
Regarding access to health services, 85% of households in need of adult health services were able to gain access. This is encouraging given that at the height of the pandemic in March/April '20 accessing healthcare services was considerably difficult.  Similarly, about 77% of households that needed vaccinations during the period of this survey were granted appointments to access them.
Based on the survey, the share of respondents who are working was 70%. Meanwhile, the share of respondents that were absent or stopped working was 23%. This is the second-highest since the launch of this survey series. The highest was recorded in the first round (43%) at the initial stages of the pandemic.
The potential reasons for the relatively high rate of economic inactivity reported by respondents are: data collection for this instalment occurred just after New Years' holidays, hence some respondents were on vacation. Furthermore, ill health or being quarantined was cited as a reason. The increase in the share of respondents who were ill or quarantined could be related to the surge in COVID-19 cases in December '20 .   
The bureau plans to produce twelve reports in this series. The emergence and distribution of the vaccines have resulted in some optimism around steady economic activity. In the absence of a  second wave of the pandemic, as well as a modest fiscal stimulus and targeted private investment, we expect growth at 2.0% in 2021 .
COVID-19 has brought too much impact to our lives. Students cannot go to school, and many people are unemployed. Hope everything returns to normal soon.

Edo state governor, Godwin Obaseki, has said that the country is in huge financial trouble. He disclosed this at the state transition committee stakeholders’ engagement. Obaseki noted that the Federal Government printed about N50-N60 billion to share in March.
“When we got FAAC for March, the federal government printed additional N50-N60 billion to top-up for us to share,” he said. “This April, we will go to Abuja and share”, he said. Speaking on the economy, he opined that by the end of this year, Nigeria’s total borrowings would be within N15-N16 trillion. He noted that the economy is not as it where before. His words as quoted by Thecable: “Nigeria has changed. The economy of Nigeria is not the same again whether we like it or not. Since the civil war, we have been managing, saying money is not our problem as long as we are pumping crude oil every day,” he said. “So we have run a very strange economy and strange presidential system where the local, state and federal government, at the end of the month, go and earn salary. We are the only country in the world that does that. “Everywhere else, governments rely on the people to produce taxes and that is what they use to run the local government, state and the federation. “But with the way we run Nigeria, the country can go to sleep. At the end of the month, we just go to Abuja, collect money and we come back to spend. We are in trouble, huge financial trouble.
“The current price of crude oil is only a mirage. The major oil companies who are the ones producing are no longer investing much in oil. Shell is pulling out of Nigeria and Chevron is now one of the world’s largest investors in alternative fuel, so in another year or so, where will we find this money that we go to share in Abuja? “When we got FAAC for March, the federal government printed additional N50-N60 billion to top-up for us to share,” he said. “This April, we will go to Abuja and share. By the end of this year, our total borrowings are going to be within N15-N16 trillion. Imagine a family that is just borrowing without any means to pay back and nobody is looking at that, everybody is looking at 2023, everybody is blaming Mr. President as if he is a magician.”

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Senate leaders are preparing to introduce legislation on semiconductors, President Joe Biden said on Wednesday as the nation wrestles with an ongoing shortage of the critical technology used in a range of devices from cars to computers.
“We’re working on that. (Senate Majority Leader) Chuck Schumer and, I think, (Senate Republican Leader Mitch) McConnell are about to introduce a bill along those lines,” Biden said during remarks about his own plan to boost the nation’s infrastructure.
Schumer and McConnell’s offices did not immediately comment.
The White House is set to hold a virtual summit on the issue on Monday that is expected to include senior U.S. auto executives, including Ford Motor Co Chief Executive Jim Farley and General Motors Co Chief Executive Mary Barra, and White House officials Brian Deese and Jake Sullivan, officials said.
On Monday, a U.S. auto industry group urged the government to help as it warned that the global semiconductor shortage could result in 1.28 million fewer vehicles built this year and disrupt production for another six months. It called for setting aside some money for automotive chip production.
Biden in February ordered several federal agency actions to address the chip crisis, and is seeking $37 billion in funding for legislation to supercharge chip manufacturing in the United States.
Automakers have been hit particularly hard by the global chip shortage after many canceled orders when auto plants were idled during the coronavirus pandemic.
Broadband internet, cellphone and cable TV companies urged the White House to remain technology-neutral in addressing chip issues.
Industry group NCTA - The Internet & Television Association said in comments to the Commerce Department this week that providers are facing chip delays resulting in delays delivering some cable TV boxes as well delays in receiving “network switches, routers, and servers. ... Shortages in semiconductors and the associated delays will result in hundreds of millions of dollars in impact to the broadband and cable television industry this year.”
Aircraft maker Boeing Co said in comments filed with the Commerce Department that “the primary risk to the semiconductor supply chain is the lack of critical domestic manufacturing capability.”

Although countries around the world have set their sights on their order books-sometimes doubting the reliability of the vaccines they import-Cuba, Iran and Nigeria are more willing to rely on their own advantages. In Cuba, two of the four vaccines are in the final testing stage: the country has a record known for its efficient health system and doctors all over the world. The country is achieving the goals of its local vaccine production project through Soberana 2 and Abdala, and these two phase 3 vaccines are approaching final approval. "Vaccine Island"
Since the end of March, hundreds of thousands of people including a large number of caregivers have been tested. These products have ensured that "100% Cubans" are likely to be the nickname "Vaccine Island" for the Caribbean islands.
Although the island is relatively unaffected by the virus-at the beginning of April, the island had 436 deaths and a total of 80,000 cases-the government hopes to start its official vaccination campaign by June, and one of the vaccines will also be the vaccine The first design and production in Latin America.
Cuba has been engaged in medical research since the 1980s because Fidel Castro requested a dengue vaccine. Today, Cuba has used this heritage as a basis to produce 8 of the 11 vaccines used to vaccinate children on the island and export them to 30 countries.
Local vaccines to cope with defects in the Covax system
In Iran and Nigeria, it was the defects of the Covax equipment that persuaded the authorities to invest in the production of their own vaccines. After India decided in March to suspend delivery of vaccines to intensively vaccinate its population, Nigeria announced that it is developing a clean vaccine to fill the gap left by these doses, which is a vaccine production that the world's largest Asian giant cannot provide. Quotient. In order to create a local vaccine solution for 200 million residents, West African countries released a $25 million envelope at the beginning of this year.
As for Iran, which is facing the fourth wave since the pandemic began, it is working hard to obtain the Covax vaccine due to sanctions imposed by the United States. Therefore, the country decided to develop its own vaccine, which is still in the testing phase, while testing a certain dose of Soberana 2 from Cuba it ordered.

The Nigerian government aims to get 70 million Johnson and Johnson single-shot COVID-19 vaccines after the African Union recently announced a deal with the drugmaker for 400 million vaccine doses.
The FG also disclosed that some AstraZeneca proportion may be replaced by the new single-shot vaccine due to constraints to its vaccine value chain.
This was disclosed by NPHCDA boss, Dr. Faisal Shuaib in an interview with Reuters. He disclosed that Nigeria expects to receive an initial 30 million J&J vaccines by July.
“We’re hoping that we’ll be able to get up to 70 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson this year. This is yet to be finalised but these are some of the advanced conversations that are going on between Nigeria and the African Union.
Some of the allocations that we were supposed to get for the AstraZeneca will be replaced by the Johnson and Johnson,” Faisal said.

LA JOLLA, CA--The faster-spreading B.1.1.7 variant of SARS-CoV-2 first detected in the United Kingdom, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, is quickly on its way to becoming the dominant variant of the virus in the United States, according to a study from scientists at Scripps Research and the COVID-19 test maker Helix.
The findings, which appear today in Cell, suggest that future COVID-19 case numbers and mortality rates in the United States will be higher than would have been otherwise. The analysis suggests that the variant, which has been detectable in an increasing proportion of SARS-CoV-2 samples, is 40-50 percent more transmissible than SARS-CoV-2 lineages that were previously dominant. Other studies have found evidence that the B.1.1.7 variant may be about 50 percent more likely to cause fatal COVID-19.
"B.1.1.7 rapidly became the dominant SARS-CoV-2 variant in the U.K. and other countries after its emergence late last year, and the U.S. is now on a similar trajectory," says study co-senior author Kristian Andersen, PhD, a professor in the Department of Immunology and Microbiology at Scripps Research and director of Infectious Disease Genomics at the Scripps Research Translational Research Institute. "We need immediate and decisive action to minimize COVID-19 morbidity and mortality."
In addition to Andersen, the other senior author was William Lee, PhD, vice president of science at Helix, which provides PCR-based COVID-19 testing to organizations across the United States. The study was also authored by Nicole Washington, PhD, associate director of research at Helix, and Karthik Gangavarapu of the Andersen Lab.
"B.1.1.7 has a doubling rate of a little over a week and an increased transmission rate of 40-50 percent, which means it could have a meaningful impact on public health," says Lee. "It is critical that we continue to monitor the spread of this and other emerging variants, but our current level of surveillance is inadequate and lags behind that of other countries. We need a more comprehensive national SARS-CoV-2 genomics surveillance program to address this."
The B.1.1.7 variant emerged in southern England last year and has since become the dominant variant in the U.K. In December, Andersen's team at Scripps Research with colleagues at University of California, San Diego confirmed the first evidence of the variant in California.
A pattern of dominance
The B.1.1.7 variant contains several mutations, including several in the gene that encodes the viral spike protein. These mutations increase the spike's ability to bind to the ACE2 receptor on human cells. Although there is no evidence yet that the B.1.1.7 variant can evade COVID-19 vaccines, public health officials fear its relatively high rate of spread will significantly worsen the pandemic before vaccines can end it.
Standard swab tests for the coronavirus check for distinctive genetic sequences at three sites on the viral genome; the B.1.1.7 variant, due to its mutations, shows up as positive for two of those sites, but negative for the third site, which is within the virus's spike gene.
The new analysis of roughly 500,000 Helix test results since July 2020 revealed that this two-of-three pattern, known as S-gene target failure, or SGTF, became consistently evident at a low frequency (0.2 percent) in mid-October. By the third week of February, it had risen to a frequency of 10.6 percent and was detected in patients from 25 different U.S. states and territories.
The SGTF pattern can occur with other SARS-CoV-2 variants that have spike gene mutations, but the researchers found by sequencing every SGTF sample they had from December through February, 662 of the 986 samples (67 percent) contained the B.1.1.7 variant. This suggests that the SGTF pattern on the swab tests can provide a quick albeit rough indication of B.1.1.7 prevalence.
Variant entered the country many times
The analysis also indicated that B.1.1.7 since December has accounted for a rapidly rising proportion of SGTF results--for example, reaching about 95 percent in California by mid-January. In addition to the 659 B.1.1.7 cases they detected via the SGTF method the researchers found three other cases of the B.1.1.7 variant among samples gathered as part of unbiased SARS-CoV-2 genomic surveillance efforts in California.
The 662 instances of B.1.1.7 sequenced in the study were from samples gathered in 10 U.S. states, although the researchers note that other testing labs covering a total of 33 U.S. states and territories have by now reported to the CDC at least one B.1.1.7 case.
The researchers' family tree-type analysis of the detected B.1.1.7 sequences show the variant has been introduced to the U.S. multiple times since at least late November 2020, especially in California and Florida, and in periods coinciding with increased travel, including Thanksgiving week.
The scientists also found that the variant, on the whole, appears to be spreading 40-50 percent faster than the variants of SARS-CoV-2 that previously dominated. They estimated that by the first week of February 2021, B.1.1.7 made up about 4.3 percent of COVID-19 cases in the U.S., including 4.2 percent of cases in California and about 11.5 percent of cases in Florida.

A majority of adults in New York state will be eligible for coronavirus vaccinations by next week, with those ages 30 and up able to get their shots as soon as Tuesday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Monday.
Universal eligibility for those 16 and up will go into effect on April 6, a dramatic step in the state’s vaccination effort. Appointments will open up for 30 years old at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, only a week after the state opened up vaccination eligibility for those over the age of 50.
“We can see the light at the end of the tunnel, but until we get there it is more important than ever for each and every New Yorker to wear a mask, socially distance and follow all safety guidelines,” Cuomo urged in a statement Monday.
More than 9 million doses of vaccine have been administered throughout the state as of Monday, with more than 16 percent of the state’s population fully vaccinated.
The state urged residents to refrain from showing up to vaccination sites without pre-booked appointments, reminding people that the demand will outweigh current supply.
Cuomo also emphasized that the state will work to ensure equity in its distribution plan, as data of vaccinations by race and ethnicity have shown communities of color have lower rates of inoculation across the country.
“As we continue to expand eligibility, New York will double down on making the vaccine accessible for every community to ensure equity, particularly for communities of color who are too often left behind,” Cuomo said.
The move comes amid multiple scandals surrounding Cuomo — over his alleged harassment of women and his alleged mishandling of nursing homes at the beginning of the pandemic— resulting in a looming impeachment inquiry by state officials.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, a fellow Democrat, has accused Cuomo of making coronavirus policy decisions based on "political needs" in response to the scandals.
The eligibility timeline announced for the state comes the same day that President Joe Biden announced that 90 percent of the adults in the country will be eligible for vaccination by April 19, with vaccine sites within five miles of their home.
"As fast as we are going, we still have a long way to go to finish this vaccination effort," Biden said in a speech Monday. "We are barely even halfway yet ... the progress we are making is a significant testament to what we can do when we work together as Americans. We still need everyone to do their part."
NBC News has created a tool called Plan Your Vaccine to provide information on each state's Covid-19 vaccination efforts as the rollout extends across the nation.

At least 215, 277 eligible Nigerians have been vaccinated against COVID-19, the latest update from the National Primary Health are Development Agency (NPHCDA) on Tuesday shows.
According to the update, the proportion of Nigerians vaccinated is 5.5%, Nigeria targets to vaccinate 70% of eligible Nigerians by 2022 to reach herd immunity and exit the pandemic.

Nigerian scientists have developed two vaccines against COVID-19, the government secretary announced Tuesday. 
Boss Mustapha, who is also chairman of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, said clinical trials for the new vaccines are underway.
"The vaccines will be used after completing clinical trials and obtaining certification," said Mustapha.
"This is a welcome development that will open a new vista in scientific breakthrough and will boost the morale and image of the medical industry in the country."
He called on all relevant agencies to provide the required support and enabling environment for the smooth conduct of the remaining protocols for the certification of the vaccines, with a view to encouraging and motivating other researchers.
At least 162,000 virus-related cases have been observed in the country and 2,031 people have died from the virus, while over 148,500 people have recovered from the disease.
Over 124 million cases have been reported worldwide, with recoveries surpassing 70.3 million, according to figures compiled by US-based Johns Hopkins University.
The US, Brazil and India remain the worst-hit countries in terms of cases.
Scientists in our country have developed two vaccines against cowid-19, and clinical trials of the new vaccine are in progress, which is a matter to be congratulated! If it works, there's hope that each of us will get vaccinated. At present, the United States, Brazil and India are still the hardest hit countries. It is hoped that most people in their countries will be vaccinated to reduce the spread of covid-19.

Gov. Bello Matawalle of Zamfara on Monday at the Government House, Gusau, received his first dose of AstraZeneca vaccine against Coronavirus (COVID-19).
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the vaccine was administered to the governor by the Commissioner of Health, Alhaji Yahaya Kanoma.
NAN reports that the state had last week, received 55,920 doses of the vaccine from the Federal Government.
Matawalle urged people of the state to believe in the vaccine and make themselves available for vaccination against the dreaded coronavirus.
The governor, after taking the vaccine reassured that the state government would stop the spread of the COVID-19 in the 14 local government areas of the state.
“I just took my first dose of Oxford-AstraZeneca. I am appealing to the people of this state to make themselves available for the vaccine.
“Apart from me, all government officials would also receive the vaccine.
“We are going to distribute the vaccine to the security and Federal Government agencies in the state,” he said.
NAN further reports that the Speaker of Zamfara State House of Assembly, Alhaji Nasiru Magarya, and Deputy Chief of Staff to the governor, Dr Bashir Maru, also received the vaccine at the event.

In December, President Joe Biden promised to get 100 million vaccine doses into the arms of Americans in his first 100 days in office — by Friday that goal will have been met 42 days early, Biden announced.
“Behind these 100 million shots are millions of lives changed when people receive that dose of hope,” Biden said in a Thursday briefing on vaccination updates.
“That’s just the floor, we will not stop until we beat this pandemic,” the president added.
He said as of today, 65% of Americans age 65 and older have gotten at least one dose and 36% have been fully vaccinated, “This is the population that represents 80% of the well over 500,000 COVID-19 deaths that have occurred in America.”
Vaccine supply to states has nearly doubled, Biden said, and an average of 2.5 million doses are being administered each day.
Biden recently directed states to open up vaccination eligibility to all residents no later than May 1, “I’m glad to see that several states are already taking that step to make more and more Americans eligible.”
Gov. Charlie Baker announced this week that the vaccine will be made available to the general public beginning April 19.
Next week, Biden will announce his next goal to put shots in arms, he said Thursday, while also urging Americans to continue wearing a mask and practicing other public health measures.
“This is a time for optimism, but it’s not a time for relaxation,” Biden said, adding that “if we keep our guard up,” Americans can look forward to a Fourth of July celebrated with backyard cookouts and declaring independence from coronavirus.
The United States continues to see elevated coronavirus case rates as variants circulate and some states move forward with reopening.
More than 29.6 million Americans have been infected with coronavirus and 538,000 have died.
Judging from the current bad situation in the United States, it is not too late to hope to make up for it.

Director-General of World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr. Okonjo-Iweala, has situated the centrality of trade in Nigeria’s quick economic recovery if the populous black nation could add more value to its products and improve infrastructure for competitiveness.
She urged the country to step up action on the agricultural value chain, information technology, fisheries among others, noting sadly, that Nigeria’s stakes in global and continental were 0.33 and 19 per cents.
Describing the statistics as a small fraction of what the country could achieve during separate courtesy visits to President Muhammadu Buhari; Ministers of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed; Industry Trade and Investment, Adeniyi Adebayo; and Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama; yesterday in Abuja, the WTO DG noted:
“Nigeria ranks 103 out of 167 countries in logistics and that means we have a long way to go. For me, that is a potential area we can invest to improve our logistics so we can take advantage of trade within the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA).”

About 8,000 Nigerians have received their first dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines, the Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Faisal Shuaib, has said.
Mr Shuaib while speaking at the weekly briefing of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, on Monday, said no serious adverse effects have been reported from those who have been vaccinated.
“As part of the vaccine launch in the states that occurred last week, over 8,000 Nigerians have been administered the vaccines thus far,” he said.
“We have not received any official report of serious adverse effects from any of those who have been vaccinated but mild side effects such as swelling at the side of the vaccination is expected as this is normal.”
He said the agency is working closely with the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to monitor any unusual adverse reaction to the vaccines.
Nigeria commenced vaccination of its citizens beginning with healthcare workers who are often at the risk of exposure to infections being the first responders to patients.
About four million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines were delivered to Nigeria through the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Assess Facility (COVAX) in early March.
The Nigerian government said it aims to vaccinate approximately 109 million people against the COVID-19 virus over a period of two years.
Health authorities said only eligible population from 18 years and above will be vaccinated.

Following the suspension of the use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine by several European nations on Thursday, due to reports of a serious blood clot incidents, the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, NPHCDA, has said no such reactions have been reported in Nigeria.
Several European nations had suspended use of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine on Thursday due to the incident that reportedly caused about 30 incidents of harmful blood clots in patients who received the vaccine, including at least one case in Denmark where the patient died.
In a press statement posted on its Twitter handle on concerns about the safety of the vaccine, the NPHCDA however said it was monitoring the situation.
“We are aware of precautionary concerns that have been raised regarding one specific batch of the AstraZeneca vaccine, namely ABV5300.
“We understand that investigations are being conducted to determine if the batch is in any way linked to an observed side effect. While we await the outcome of the investigations, it is important to clearly state that Nigeria did not receive any doses from the batch of vaccines which is at issue.  Sasa crisis: Yoruba traders unhappy over relocation of market
Further, the statement noted: “Vaccinations in Nigeria started earlier this month and we have not observed any similar adverse reactions. All side effects reported by those who have been administered the vaccine have been mild. We are satisfied that the clinical evidence indicates the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to be safe and effective.
“Our assessment is in line with countries such as Spain and the UK who have indicated that they will continue to administer the vaccine because it remains an important tool to protect against COVID-19. The safety of vaccines delivered to Nigeria is paramount to the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19.
“For this reason, it has enhanced multi-sectoral collaboration among stakeholders and technical entities such as the FMOH, NPHCDA, NAFDAC, WHO, and UNICEF whose cooperation ensures the highest global standards are met for vaccines delivered to Nigeria before they are distributed to Nigerians. Clear, rigorous protocols are being followed to safeguard the health of Nigerians. “
We are continuing to monitor the developments regarding ABV5300 batch and will share further information as it becomes available. In the meantime, we encourage Nigerians who are among those being prioritised in the current phase to continue their confidence and enthusiasm for our vitally important national vaccine program. Together, we can save lives,” the statement noted.

Much of the concern about women’s waning labor force participation during the pandemic has been focused on the burden borne by mothers forced to choose between work and the supervision and education of their young children. Far less attention has been oriented towards the companies and workers within the industry itself, until now.
Advocates were cheered by the passage of the $1.9 trillion Covid-relief bill, signed by President Joe Biden on Thursday afternoon. The plan includes measures both specifically targeted to support the child care industry as well as to bolster the resources available to parents for child care.
“The child care sector has lost a significant number of jobs, making it difficult for women to return to work and care,” said C. Nicole Mason, president and CEO of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research.
Roughly 17 percent of child care workers have lost their job since the start of the pandemic, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and this burden falls to a huge extent on women. According to a report by the National Women’s Law Center, women comprise 95 percent of the child care workforce in the U.S. Roughly four in 10 of those are either Latina or Black; 17 percent are immigrants.
Many of those jobs vanished when enrollment plummeted. Parents, confined at home with their kids, no longer needed daycare, or were unwilling to re-enroll even with daycare centers’ heightened safety and sanitation protocols. Some child care workers left the field because they were parents with kids of their own who needed supervision and help with remote learning, while others were older and at a higher risk for Covid-19 complications. And despite being on the front lines, many child care workers still struggle financially. As of 2018, the NWLC found that 10 percent of child care workers earn incomes that put them below the federal poverty line.
“One of the things we know families really struggle with is affordability,” said Katherine Gallagher Robbins, director for child care and early education at the Center for Law and Social Policy. “That's also an important part of the picture here.”
This stimulus bill does this by incorporating several supports for child care providers and parents. For parents, an expansion of the child tax credit from $2,000 to $3,000, with an extra $600 supplement for kids five years old and younger, and higher limits on the child care and dependent credit — which lets parents or guardians deduct the cost of caregiving for dependents up to a certain threshold — leaves them better equipped to pay for child care.
It includes $15 billion allocation for child-development block grants, a $1 billion allocation for the Head Start early education program, and a $24 billion stabilization fund for child care providers. The stabilization fund money, which would be distributed at the state level, would provide funds for child care providers to deploy for a diverse array of uses.
Supporters said it was critical that the industry get a pool of dedicated funds, since a significant number of these facilities operate with few staff and on shoestring budgets, which left many unable to access the Paycheck Protection Program or other sources of Covid-19 relief funding because they lacked the overhead or operational staff to complete the paperwork-intensive process.
“There are a lot of smaller child care providers that don't have an operations team or an HR department,” Kashen said. “Because the PPP ended up being a first-come, first-serve thing, the folks who were most well established got it… a lot of child care providers did not get the money when it came through,” she said.
A survey released in December by the National Association for the Education of Young Children found that 56 percent of child care facility owners said they are losing money on a daily basis. “Not only were they forced to close down, but they can’t have the same capacity levels under Covid, so they need something to offset that lack of income,” said Stephen Myrow, managing partner at policy research consulting firm Beacon Policy Advisors.
“For many care providers, PPP and Economic Injury Disaster Loans were out of reach or hardly enough to stay afloat,” Mason said. “The child care stabilization would pump money into the child care sector to ensure centers can re-open safely and ease the financial burden caused by enrollment gaps,” she said, adding that the enhanced child tax credit and child care tax credit would support daycare facilities indirectly by giving parents more resources to pay for child care.
“To incentivize our staff, to be able to pay them more — it’s created a lot more stress for them to provide quality care, and to get quality applicants, we need to be able to compensate them,” said Casey Kennedy, owner of Bloom Academy in Florida, a child care company with two locations in Florida. “We were the only constant for kids in our community,” she said, when schools and workplaces locked down last spring.

The Nigerian Government Saturday said the reports claiming it budgeted N10.6 billion to transport COVID-19 vaccine to the 36 states and the 774 local government areas as well as the Federal Capital Territory are  not true.
Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Faisal Shuaib, dismissed the reports after a ceremony, where President Muhammadu Buhari joined by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Saturday in Abuja received the first doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.
President Buhari and Prof Osinbajo received the jab publicly, a day after the COVID-19 national vaccine programme commenced with the vaccination of healthcare and frontline workers at the National Hospital, Abuja.
Shuaib explained that Private sector-led Coalition Against COVID-19 (CACOVID), have already undertaken to distribute the vaccines to states at no cost the government.
“I mean, I’m hearing this from you for the first time. It doesn’t make any sense that on the one hand, we’ve communicated very clearly to Nigerians that the Coalition Against COVID-19 (CACOVID), a private sector initiative, has provided a cargo plane that will help deliver the vaccines from Abuja to all states that have functional airports.
“For those that do not have functional airports, there is a delivery van that will convey the vaccines from those airports to the states without functionality.
“I do not see how that is going to cost N10 billion. So there is no truth in that information.
“The truth is what I have told you, which is that CACOVID has taken up the responsibility of delivering the vaccines from Abuja to the states. The only cost we’re going to incur is the cost of delivering the vaccines from any airport to nearby states that don’t have functional airports. Clearly that cannot be N10.6 billion.”
Asked to reveal the actual cost, he said “you can do the math on the back of an envelope and you know that it cannot be anything close to a billion naira right.
“So I believe that CACOVID has already identified that cost as something they are going to take off. I do not know how much it’s going to cost them, but that is something that they have already identified as a cost they will bear and we’re working together with them.
“So it is not correct to say that the federal government is going to be expending N10.6 billion to transport vaccines to the state. That is incredulous.”
Concerning the latest development on the 100,000 doses of Pfizer vaccines, the NPHCDA boss said, “what happened was that there was a committee that met at global level, and took the decision that it made more sense for Nigeria to get 16 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccines rather than 100,000 doses of Pfizer.
“Hundred thousand doses of Pfizer is a drop in the ocean and given that the AstraZeneca vaccine is more suited to our cold chain environments; from +2 to +8 °C. Not only do we have the necessary coldchain equipment, but also our health workers have the capacity to manage vaccines of that temperature. So it just makes sense that we should get vaccines that are more suited to Nigeria.”

PETALING JAYA: The health ministry has detected the first two cases of Covid-19 patients infected with a virulent Nigerian variant, known as B1.525, in Malaysia.
Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said those infected were foreign nationals who arrived from Dubai and tested positive after being administered RT-PCR tests.
The Institute for Medical Research (IMR) carried out full genome sequencing due to their travel history, he said in a Facebook post.
Noor Hisham said the variant shares similarities with the UK variant B.1.1.7, including the E484K spike mutation, which has been reported to evade the immune system.
“The Nigerian variant may cause increase in transmissibility as well as possible reductions in immune response,” he said.
He said the ministry, through IMR and the National Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre, will continue to monitor the development of the Nigerian variant and keep the public informed.
“Even with the Covid-19 vaccination programme under way, public health measures must continue to be practised as we have yet to achieve herd immunity,” he said.
“The public is advised to always practise personal hygiene by washing their hands regularly, wearing their face mask in public places and maintaining physical distancing at all times.”

Zinox is now able to offer Ku-band and C-band services at a significant competitive advantage and at high speed while maintaining its current single Hub.
Israeli satellite operator Spacecom has signed a multi-year contract to enable internet connectivity and e-learning solutions for schools in Nigeria together with a local partner Intertel, and in partnership with Zinox, a Nigerian internet and e-Learning service provider.
Spacecom said its AMOS-17 digital and C-band High Throughput Satellite (HTS) capabilities will enable satellite efficiencies covering all of Nigeria with one single beam. Spacecom believes this compares favourably to using multiple smaller beams as common with other high throughput satellites covering the region. As a result, Spacecom can offer significant economic benefits and flexibilities, such as lower CapEx as well as cost-effective ongoing OpEx, materialising advantage all the way to the end customer over an excellent coverage of communities.
Speaking about the agreement, Abolade Kazeem, Head of Technical Operations at Zinox, said: ?Quality communication and e-learning solutions are important at all times and especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thanks to Spacecom and the AMOS-17 unique capabilities and cost-effective solution, Zinox was able to gain significant advantages and high performance. We are excited to provide more reliable service to Nigerian schools.
?Using our network and learning equipment together with excellent satellite-based communication services via Spacecom, kids all over Nigeria will have access to quality education. With [the] foregoing, Zinox has entered a niche club of premium ISPs [internet service providers] in Nigeria, where only two ISPs currently operate, thus setting the pace for others to follow. The upgrade has now positioned Zinox to provide better services and execute numerous project sites across the federation.
With the transformation, Zinox is now able to offer Ku-band and C-band services to its customers at a significant competitive advantage and high speed while maintaining her current single Hub?.
The Managing Director/CEO of Intertel Nigeria Limited, Abdlrazaq Shittu, added: ?Intertel is excited to partner with Spacecom to provide Zinox HTS connectivity in the Nigerian broadband space. Zinox?s IP connectivity to its customers over AMOS-17 allows delivery of premium solutions but cost-effectively that seamlessly bridges digital divides.?
Guy Avrahami, VP Sales Nigeria at Spacecom, said: ?Spacecom is happy to provide solutions that cost-effectively bring value to the Nigerian people. The partnership with Zinox entails important and inspiring opportunities to the most remote places in Nigeria. Connecting the unconnected, from semi-urban to the most rural areas in Africa, is a major pillar in Spacecom?s plans going forward. We look forward to continuing the cooperation with Zinox as part of this mission we wish to achieve in Nigeria, and we have more plans ahead?

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Initial deliveries of the newly approved Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine should start on Tuesday, senior Biden administration officials said on Sunday, saying they hoped to boost lagging vaccination rates among minorities.
The officials acknowledged that vaccination rates among Black and brown Americans were “not where we ultimately want them to be”, but said measures had been put in place to boost those numbers, and sought to assure minorities that the vaccines were safe. Federal officials were also closely monitoring distribution to ensure it was equitable, they said.
“Even though we know the data are not complete, we do see these early patterns that suggest Black and brown Americans largely are getting vaccinated at rates lower than the representation in the general population,” said one of the officials.
The officials gave no data on the disparities, but KFF, a health policy and research organization, has found that people of color are getting smaller shares of vaccinations as compared to their share of the population. In Alabama, for instance, Black people account for 27% of the population and 31% of the deaths from COVID-19, but only 17% of the vaccinations.
The U.S. officials said they respected the concerns raised by some Black Americans given a history of past disparities and “egregiously unethical conduct”, including the Tuskegee study in Macon County, Alabama, in which federal health officials denied black men treatment to study syphilis from 1932 to 1972.
But they underscored the importance of everyone who was eligible to get vaccinated as soon as possible, to get control of the pandemic, and said great efforts had been made to ensure that Black and brown people were adequately represented at every stage of the vaccine process.
“It is critical for people to understand the safeguards that are in place around this clinical research, but also the diversity and representation at the level of the scientist, at the level of the policymakers and those who are reviewing these data, as well as the clinical trial participants,” said one of the officials.
Up to 400 community vaccination centers were being put into areas with large minority population, and officials would use mobile units to reach more people, they said, adding that flexible hours of operation also would be critical.
“We have directed states to manage distribution of all (three) vaccines in a fair and equitable way, and we will continue to monitor that closely,” a second official said.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine involves only one shot, not two, and may be easier to distribute since it does not require a freezer, but federal officials said all three vaccines should be made available evenly across communities and the country.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has set aside $19 million to train 100,000 health workers in some parts of Nigeria.
The training, which would be on for the next five year, have Bauchi, Sokoto, Kebbi, and Ebonyi States, as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as beneficiaries.
According to a statement from USAID on Wednesday, the USAID Health Office Director, Paul McDermott, and key government health sector officials participated in a launch of a new USAID funded activity to improve the quality of health worker training in Nigeria.
The statement said the five-year, $19 million Health Workforce Management activity will support the establishment of a cost-effective, well-trained and motivated health workforce in targeted rural and remote areas of Bauchi, Sokoto, Kebbi and Ebonyi States, as well as the FCT.
The statement quoted McDermott to have said at the virtual launch: “We are investing in the health workforce because strong and capable human resources for health improve health outcomes and save lives.
“The activity will support efforts to address the persistent healthcare worker challenges in Nigeria.”
The statement said the Health Workforce Management will strengthen human resources, improve governance of the health workforce, and develop interventions to improve health worker retention.
It said over the next five years, the activity is expected to produce a cadre of 100,000 new health workers competent to respond to current and future health needs of the populations in the targeted states.
The Health Workforce Management will train these primary health care workers to anchor a more proficient workforce to respond to health needs, improve the distribution and skill mix of front-line workers, and strengthen training institutions to adopt and apply more effective approaches to human resources.
The Director of Primary Health Care Services Development at the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr. Usman Adamu, said: “This initiative could not have come at a better time. It will be most beneficial to address maldistribution of health workers by producing the appropriate skill mix of front-line health workers at the primary care level. We look forward to positive change and assure USAID of our collaboration and support all the way.”
The statement disclosed that the activity will be implemented by Banyan Global in collaboration with Abt Associates, Institute for Healthcare Improvement and Solina Health.
It is part of USAID’s integrated package of activities valued at $793 million that is focused on integrating health service delivery at the primary level, creating demand for health services, and strengthening supply chain management at the sub-national level.

United States consumer confidence increased in February, with households slightly more upbeat about the labour market amid declining new COVID-19 infections and expectations for additional money from the government to help the economy’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.
The survey from the Conference Board on Tuesday also showed consumers warming up to overseas vacations, though fewer intended to purchase homes, automobiles and other big-ticket items over the next six months. Consumers anticipated higher inflation as well. This fits in with economists’ predictions that demand will swing back to services from goods by summer as more Americans get vaccinated, and boost price pressures.
There are concerns in some quarters that very accommodative fiscal and monetary policy will ignite inflation this year. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has played down these fears, citing three decades of lower and stable inflation.
On Tuesday, Powell told lawmakers that the US central bank would keep interest rates low and continue to pump money into the economy through bond purchases “at least at the current pace until we make substantial further progress towards our goals… which we have not really been making”.
The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index rose to a reading of 91.3 this month from 88.9 in January. Confidence remains well below its lofty reading of 132.6 last February.
Economists polled by Reuters news agency had forecast the index nudging up to a reading of 90. The cutoff date for the survey was February 11 and did not fully capture the winter storm, which knocked out electric power in Texas, or the easing of dining restrictions in New York City.
“With additional fiscal relief coming and better progress on the vaccination front, sentiment should rise further,” said Ryan Sweet, a senior economist at Moody’s Analytics in West Chester, Pennsylvania. “As we approach herd immunity, pent-up demand will be released.”COVID-19 cases in the US have declined for the sixth consecutive week, with daily cases and hospitalisations falling to the lowest levels since before the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. The pace of vaccination is also picking up.
Health experts have warned, however, that coronavirus variants initially discovered in Britain, South Africa and Brazil could unleash another wave that threatens to reverse the recent positive trends. The virus has claimed more than 500,000 lives in the US just over a year since the pandemic hit the nation. President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion plan for recovery from the pandemic is gaining traction in the US Congress.
Stocks on Wall Street fell as investors sold off mega-cap growth shares on valuation concerns. The dollar gained versus a basket of currencies. US Treasury prices were higher.

Two cases of the Nigerian strain of coronavirus have been identified in Wales.
Public Health Wales confirmed on Friday that the B.1.525 variant, which is classified as a 'variant under investigation', is present here.
A spokeswoman for the NHS trust said: "As at Friday, February 19 we have identified and confirmed and two cases of the B.1.525 strain of coronavirus in Wales.
"This strain has been designated as a variant under investigation (VUI 202102/03). Both cases have links with travel to Nigeria and usual contact tracing processes have been followed.
“Public Health Wales do not comment on individual cases or provide information that may potentially identify individuals.
“There is no current evidence that this variant is any more transmissible than either the original Covid-19 virus or other variants in circulation."
It follows news on Wednesday that there are 17 cases of the South African variant of Covid-19 in Wales, most of which have links to international travel.

Nigerian students have built a machine they hope can one day help hospitals remotely treat Covid-19 patients, taking temperatures, transporting medicine and allowing medical workers to communicate with patients with a webcam and screen.
The robot is a remote-controlled cabinet on wheels, decked out with a vibrant, floral pattern and dubbed 'MAIROBOT'.
In a demonstration, a school nurse loaded MAIROBOT with medicine and a student, using a controller and goggles to see through a camera, trundled the machine through a corridor and into a mock isolation room to scan a student's forehead for her temperature.
"I hope this MAIROBOT can curb and reduce the risk that these health personnel get - I want health workers to be safer," said Nabila Abbas, one of the robot's creators.
The robotics team at the Glisten International Academy in Nigeria's capital Abuja started out trying to build MAIROBOT by collaborating online, but eventually had to come together to finish the project in their lab.
But MAIROBOT, which took about three months to build, is still in its early days. During the demonstration, the isolation room door had to be left open for it, and it can only carry medication, so patients would self-administer while a nurse watches over the camera.
"Right now we are working on upgrading it," said David Adeniyi, the teacher overseeing the robotics team, who says the students hope to make MAIROBOT commercially available one day.
For Abbas, the robot's use will not stop at the coronavirus.
"Other infectious diseases can also be curbed using MAIROBOT like Ebola, Lassa fever and all these infectious viruses," she said.

The Biden administration is withdrawing the U.S. from agreements with three Central American countries that restricted the ability of people to seek asylum at the southwest border, part of a broad effort to undo the the immigration policies of President Donald Trump
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Saturday the administration had notified El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras that it had started the formal process of terminating agreements that had been part of Trump's effort to restrict asylum.
The agreements, which had been on hold since early in the coronavirus pandemic, required many people seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border to go instead to one of the three Central American countries and pursue their claims there.
“The Biden administration believes there are more suitable ways to work with our partner governments to manage migration across the region,” Blinken said in a statement announcing the immediate suspension of the agreements and their eventual termination.
The secretary of state said the administration intends to work with the Central American nations to reduce some of the insecurity and poverty that cause people to flee in the first place while maintaining the security of the U.S. border.
“To be clear, these actions do not mean that the U.S. border is open,” he said. “While we are committed to expanding legal pathways for protection and opportunity here and in the region, the United States is a country with borders and laws that must be enforced.”
The Trump administration pushed the Central American nations to accept the agreements as a way to reduce the number of people seeking asylum in the United States. Critics said it amounted to a U.S. retreat from its obligations under international law to help people fleeing persecution since neither of the three countries could credibly provide refuge.
Since the start of the pandemic, the U.S. has been quickly expelling nearly everyone apprehended at the border or seeking asylum under a public health law to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
President Joe Biden signed a series of executive orders Tuesday that ended Trump immigration policies or put them under review. He also set up a task force to reunite Central American families who had been forcibly separated at the border under a zero-tolerance program in 2018.

Following a widespread report that BUA has purchased a million doses of COVID-19 (AstraZeneca) vaccines for Nigerians, the Coalition Against COVID-19, CACOVID, has disowned the statement, stating that no individual or company can purchase vaccines directly from any legitimate and recognized manufacturer.
In an explicit statement clearing the air on COVID-19 purchase, the body explained that BUA Chairman Alhaji Abdulsamad must have been misquoted. “These claims are not factual as CACOVID operates on a collegiate fund contribution model. There is no agreement between BUA, CACOVID and Afreximbank,” part of the statement read. It further explained that “During the CACOVID weekly call of February 8th, Governor Emefiele, relayed to the larger group a call that he held with Alhaji Aliko Dangote and Herbert Wigwe with Afreximbank President, Benedict Oramah on Sunday Feb 7th. “President Oramah briefed the three CACOVID leaders on the $2 billion facility the Bank has set up with the African Union Vaccine taskforce to purchase vaccines for the African Continent. The allocation for Nigeria has been capped at 42 million doses. “President Oramah explained that 1 million doses were ready for shipment to Nigeria in the next two weeks if a down payment was made by today, February 8th.” According to the statement, CACOVID leadership agreed to contribute $100 million to procure vaccines for Nigeria. Noting that “these 1 million doses from Afreximbank worth $3.45 million, being the very first tranche. CACOVID will purchase vaccines through other credible and subsidized mechanisms such as COVAX.” The vaccines is expected to be delivered to Nigeria and distributed through the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA). “CACOVID would like the Nigerian public to understand that vaccine purchase is only possible through the Federal Government of Nigeria, and that no individual or company can purchase vaccines directly from any legitimate and recognized manufacturer,” it said.

The Nigerian government hopes to have vaccinated 40 percent of its population by the end of the year, the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 has said.
The task force also said it is targeting to have vaccinated 70 percent of the population by 2022.
According to Dr. Mukhtar Muhammad, National Incident Manager, PTF on COVID-19, health care workers will be the first set to get vaccinated against the virus.
“Health workers are the ones that are most at risk. When people are sick the first place they go to is the hospital and, therefore, people with COVID-19 also will do the same thing. Health workers, when they are not protected, they are the first people to get infected,” Muhammad said.
“It is even a double jeopardy because if health workers become infected, it means more people will get infected without having to get treatment because people who will take care of them are infected.”
Muhammad added that individuals working at health facilities and points of entry or are involved in the nation’s COVID-19 rapid response will also be among the first group to receive the vaccine.
The announcement came a day after the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) revealed that six more cases of the UK variant of the coronavirus had been confirmed in the country.
“The B.1.1.7 variant, first identified in UK has now been identified in six more COVID-19 cases in Nigeria. While we strengthen our genomic surveillance capacity with partners to inform our response, non-pharmaceutical interventions remain effective to limit spread,” the director general of the NCDC Chikwe Ihekweazu said.
As of February 2, Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, had reported 133,552 confirmed coronavirus cases and 1,613 deaths.
Vaccinating 40% of the population sounds good, but what about the other 60%? Hope that the vaccine will be popularized as soon as possible.

The Biden administration has made a $231.8 million deal with an Australian company to boost availability of the first at-home rapid test for the coronavirus which causes COVID-19 that is available without a prescription. The test, made by Ellume, can send results to a smartphone within 15 minutes of receiving a sample.
The Food and Drug Administration gave emergency authorization to Ellume's rapid test in December, after it showed 96% accuracy in a U.S. clinical study. Those trials included both adults and children of ages 2 years and older.
In a press release, the company said its contract, with the U.S. Defense Department, will help fund construction of Ellume's first manufacturing plant in the U.S. Once completed, it will produce more than 500,000 tests per day, according to the company.
The test uses a relatively short nasal swab to collect a sample. The sample is put into a digital analyzer linked to a smartphone app. In December, the company told NPR that the test would be available for about $30.
In October, the company received a $30 million grant from the U.S. National Institutes of Health Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics initiative to support clinical testing and manufacture of the test.
As part of the new contract, Ellume has committed to providing 8.5 million tests to the federal government, said Andy Slavitt, senior adviser to the White House COVID-19 Response Team.
Suzanne Sterns, a spokesperson for Ellume, told NPR the company "will be delivering 100,000 tests per month from the Australian manufacturing facility until the U.S. facility is built. At full capacity, the U.S facility will be able to produce up to 19 million tests per month. The 8.5M tests for the US government is a portion of the overall manufacturing."
"The first shipment of product to the DOD and HHS will commence in February," Sterns said, "with 100,000 tests to be shipped to the US Government by the end of the month."
Sterns said the test is not yet commercially available in the U.S. or elsewhere, but that the company would "be making further announcements around [the] rollout and retail plans in the coming weeks."
The Biden administration is trying to bolster testing efforts in the U.S., the worst-hit country in the world, as new variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus threaten to make it even more difficult to bring the pandemic under control.
The U.S. average daily testing rate now stands at 550 per 100,000 people, according to a seven-day moving average computed by Johns Hopkins University. That rate compares well with those of a number of smaller countries, but it sharply lags the U.K. — another nation hit hard by the pandemic — which has been testing an average of 986 people per 100,000.
Because of the expected $30 cost and the need for a smartphone to receive results, this particular test is unlikely to be the game-changer several public health experts have been calling for — a test that families could use routinely at home before leaving the house, to prevent silent spread.
The Ellume contract is "a step in the right direction towards identifying fast tools that can actually help serve to identify and slow spread," says Dr. Michael Mina, a Harvard epidemiologist who has been a vocal advocate for widespread rapid tests. What's needed, he says, are "tests that are highly accessible, abundant, can be used frequently, provide immediately actionable results and are $5 [or less] per test. A test that does not meet each of these [criteria] will not perform well as a public health test to fight this pandemic."
Discussing the new agreement in a news conference Monday, Slavitt said he hopes the cost of the test will come down.
"Things that are not low-cost and accessible don't do us all the good we need," he said.
But it will take more production capacity to bring that cost down — creating what Slavitt called a "chicken and egg problem" that the Ellume deal could help solve. At the same time, he added, "we know there are efforts to create even lower-cost and more innovative approaches, and we welcome those."
It's important for federal, state and local governments to help make coronavirus tests more affordable, Slavitt said, adding that "life doesn't change" until tests and vaccines become ubiquitous.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his administration faced a barrage of criticism in the wake of a report from his own state attorney general claiming that the state had undercounted Covid-19 nursing home deaths by as much as 50 percent.
The state's public death toll for nursing homes does not include residents who died from the coronavirus after having been transferred to hospitals, only deaths that occurred at facilities. Attorney General Letitia James' report examined 62 nursing homes — about 10 percent of the state's total — and found that New York's approach left a large number of hospital deaths out of the state's official nursing home death toll.
Advocates, researchers and lawmakers from both parties have campaigned for months for the Cuomo administration to disclose the full number of deaths associated with long-term care facilities.
State Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt, a Republican, accused the administration of concealing the deadly impact of the virus. "This was a deliberate attempt to mislead the public and the state of New York," said Ortt, who called for the state's health commissioner, Dr. Howard Zucker, to resign. "Why did it take the top prosecutor in the state of New York to get this?"
Cuomo, a Democrat, did not immediately comment on the report. Zucker denied that the state had undercounted nursing home deaths, saying the state had always made it clear that its data included only deaths that occurred at facilities, not outside them.
"The word 'undercount' implies there are more total fatalities than have been reported; this is factually wrong," Zucker said in a statement. Referring to the state Health Department, he said, "DOH has consistently made clear that our numbers are reported based on the place of death."
The state has yet to release a full count of deaths linked to nursing homes, as it is still auditing the data, having caught "numerous inaccuracies" in the original numbers that facilities reported to the state, Zucker said.
Zucker said the data that the state has reviewed so far have shown 3,829 hospital deaths among nursing home residents. That would raise the state's toll of nursing home-linked deaths from about 8,700 to more than 12,500.
The report also found that facilities' failure to follow proper infection control, a lack of access to personal protective equipment and testing, and inadequate staffing contributed to the fatal spread of the virus. James, a Democrat, is investigating more than 20 facilities accused of having failed to protect residents and staff members.
State Sen. Gustavo Rivera, a Democrat and chair of the health committee, said in a statement that James' findings were "disturbing" but that "I am sadly unsurprised by them."
"It is critical that the Cuomo administration finally releases accurate data on nursing home deaths, which my colleagues and I have been requesting for months," Rivera said.
On Thursday, criticism of the Cuomo administration also came from independent experts and advocates, who said the state had undermined its response to the pandemic by failing to disclose the full death toll earlier.
New York's approach to counting nursing home deaths "totally masked the true death rate and the impact," said David Grabowski, a Harvard University professor and health care policy expert, who said such data could have helped direct resources to troubled facilities and assist policymakers in determining what went wrong.
"We still don't know the exact number of deaths," he said. "It's important that we do get the true number, and why it's taking so long is unclear."
Because the attorney general's report examined only a fraction of the state's nursing homes and the state's audit continues, the full death toll is still unknown.
"It's shocking that the Cuomo administration continues to withhold basic information about a major public health crisis that New Yorkers urgently want to know and clearly have a right to know," Bill Hammond, senior fellow at the Empire Center, a conservative think tank, said in a statement. In September, the group sued the state for failing to disclose the number of nursing home residents who died off-site. The state has promised to release the data by March 22, the organization said.
Stephen Hanse, president and CEO of the New York State Health Facilities Association, a trade group representing nursing homes, defended the state's approach, arguing that it was more reliable and objective to report deaths based on their locations, rather than associate all Covid-19 deaths of residents with their facilities.
"Can you 100 percent know where they were infected?" Hanse said. "It could have been in transport, or an individual could have come from the community and then into the nursing home" before succumbing to the virus in a hospital, he said.
New York's nursing homes have suffered devastating losses and isolation for almost a year. Cuomo had previously been under fire for a March directive ordering nursing homes to accept Covid-19 patients discharged by hospitals. His aim was to clear much-needed hospital beds, but nursing home leaders said they feared that the directive contributed to the virus's spread, and Cuomo reversed it. More recently, family members have lobbied Cuomo and state lawmakers to allow them to be designated as essential caregivers, able to visit their loved ones in facilities.
"It makes me angry that they weren't transparent from the start. Each death that goes unaccounted for is someone's loved one," said Gelsey Randazzo Markese, who spent months pushing for essential caregiver visits to see her 91-year-old grandmother, who died of natural causes last month.
"It's important to have the number so people can see how shocking it is," Markese said. "So we can move forward and gain closure from this chapter — and figure out what we can do to prevent this from happening again."

Two states in Nigeria have asked civil servants to work from their homes as of Monday, following a surge in coronavirus cases in the country.
Osun, a state in the country's southwest region, directed its junior and middle cadre workers to work remotely until further notice.
Wole Oyebamiji, secretary to the Osun state government, in a statement said: “Officers below Level 12 are expected to work from home with effect from Monday, January 25th, till further notice.”
He urged people to wear masks, wash their hands regularly and abstain from crowding, adding anyone having symptoms similar to COVID-19 should visit designated testing centers.
Osun, which recorded 41 confirmed cases on Monday, followed southern state Edo, which has already asked civil servants to work from home.
According to an update by the Nigeria Center for Disease Control, 964 new cases were reported on Monday, taking the tally to 121,566, including 1,504 deaths.

When will our lives return to normal? When can I get the vaccine? COVID-19 has brought too much trouble to our lives!