The African Development Bank (AfDB) has said it will invest $3 billion to support Africa's vaccine manufacturing capacity. Akinwumi Adesina, AfDB President said this during at the 35th African Union Summit on Saturday in Adis Ababa, Ethiopia, explaining that the funds will ensure Africans get greater access to quality healthcare.
The Federal Government has launched a National HIV self-testing (HIVST) and Pre-Exposure (PrEP) communication strategy. The Director-General of the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), Gambo Aliyu disclosed this, saying the national HIVST and PrEP communication strategy are approved tools in the HIV combination prevention package for people with a substantial risk of HIV infection.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has on Tuesday announced that Nigeria is currently experiencing a fourth wave of the COVID-19, following the recent surge of confirmed cases in the country. The Director-General, NCDC, Dr. Ifeday Adetifa made the announcement in a statement on Monday, saying the development was sequel to the 500 percent increase in COVID-19 cases recorded in the past two weeks.
The Nigerian Government has insisted that there is no plan at the moment to restrict foreigners from visiting Nigeria. Dr. Osagie Ehanire, the Minister of health made this known while having a chart with Channel Television on, Politics Today yester night.
Although most of the passengers who tested positive for the COVID-19 were from UK the Minister declared. Nigeria was blacklisted by the Canadian government from travelling to Canada last week where United Kingdom, Indonesia, Singapore and Hong Kong follow suit. However, the Minister reacted that the impromptu in flagging Nigeria on red is uncalled for. He quoted the World Health Organisation, WHO stated that rather, countries should find a way of working together than falling apart.
In his statement, the Minister said, at the moment we have no plans restricting anybody coming from another country.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) has on Friday urged countries to prepare for the likely spread of the COVID-19 Omicron variant. WHO spokesperson, Christian Lindmeier said this, noting that scientist are still studying the new variant, explaining that it will take another two weeks before more information about how transmissible and dangerous the variant is. “It is much more preferred to prepare your country, your health system to possibly incoming cases because we can be pretty sure that this Omicron variant will spread around,” he said.
The Lagos State Government through the Health Facility Monitoring and Accreditation Agency (HEFAMAA) has shut down Vedic Lifecare Hospital located in Lekki for engaging the services of unlicensed expatriates. The Executive Secretary of the Lagos agency, Dr. Abiola Idowu, who made the announcement of the closure in her office in Alausa, Ikeja, revealed that the hospital located at Plot 6, Olabanji Olajide Street, Lekki, was sealed for engaging expatriate staff who have not been certified to practice locally. Dr. Idowu, who disclosed that the closure of the hospital does not affect the in-patients already admitted, also said the agency received information that some facilities are engaging foreign-based transient medical doctors (FBTMD) who come into the state, stay for a period of time to provide medical care to patients and perform medical procedures before returning to their respective countries.
