TOYIN ADEBAYO, ABUJA

The World Health Organisation (WHO), has revealed that COVID-19 infections in Africa today (Wednesday), surpassed 500 000, and there is concern as a growing number of countries are experiencing a sharp rise in cases.

Saying, it said in less than five months, the virus has claimed 11, 959 lives, overtaking the 11 308 lives lost in the world’s worst Ebola outbreak in West Africa between 2014 and 2016.

WHO added that cases have more than doubled in 22 countries in the region over the past month, saying nearly two-thirds of countries are experiencing community transmission.

It said Algeria, Egypt, Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa account for about 71% of COVID-19 cases, adding that South Africa alone accounts for 43% of the continent’s total cases.

However, the accelerating growth trend is not uniform across the continent, with some countries recording a steady rise in cases, indicating a protracted pandemic.

“Eritrea, Gambia, Mali, Seychelles and Togo are witnessing long doubling times and low growth rates. Seychelles had not experienced a case in nearly two months, but in the past week had dozens of new imported cases, linked to crew members of an international fishing vessel. There are also some signs of progress as 10 countries have experienced a downward trend over the past month. Although Egypt accounts for 15 percent of cumulative cases, it has seen a decline in the past week”, WHO said.

The World Health Organization (WHO) Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti said, “With more than a third of countries in Africa doubling their cases over the past month, the threat of COVID-19 overwhelming fragile health systems on the continent is escalating.

“So far the continent has avoided disaster and if countries continue to strengthen key public health measures such as testing, tracing contacts and isolating cases, we can slow down the spread of the virus to a manageable level.”

Eighty-eight per cent of COVID-19 infections are among people aged 60 and below, likely due to Africa’s relatively young population. However, the likelihood of dying from COVID-19 rises with increasing age and the existence of co-morbidities, with the risk of death among patients aged 60 years and above being 10 times higher compared with those below 60.

Also, the WHO Director for the Eastern Mediterranean Dr Ahmed Al-Mandhari, added that, “Communities across the continent have a crucial role to play in controlling the pandemic, especially as countries begin easing lockdowns and opening up their borders”

“As governments continue to implement public health measures, individuals must remain as cautious and vigilant as ever to protect themselves, their families, and their communities. Hand washing, mask use, physical distancing and other preventative measures are key to controlling transmission, saving lives, and ensuring that already overwhelmed health systems are not stretched to breaking point.”

The organization said as COVID-19 continues to spread, thousands of health workers have also fallen ill, saying equipping and protecting health workers is one of the central pillars of the COVID-19 response.

WHO is working to support countries respond to COVID-19 by providing technical guidance, crucial medical equipment and has remotely trained more than 25 000 health workers.

WHO has also organized more than 420 shipments of key equipment, including more than 3000 oxygen concentrators, 23 000 GeneXpert diagnostic testing machines and almost 4 million pieces of personal protective equipment for health care workers.

TOYIN ADEBAYO, ABUJA

The World Health Organization (WHO) in Africa (www.Afro.WHO.int) has joined immunization experts in charging the international community and countries in Africa to take concrete actions to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, as researchers around the world race to find effective protection against the virus.

Dr Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO Regional Director for Africa said, “It is clear that as the international community comes together to develop safe and effective vaccines and therapeutics for COVID-19, equity must be a central focus of these efforts”

She added that, “Too often, African countries end up at the back of the queue for new technologies, including vaccines. These life-saving products must be available to everyone, not only those who can afford to pay.”

WHO and partners launched the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator to speed up the development, production and equitable access to COVID-19 diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines.

The meeting brings together leaders of government, global health organizations civil society groups, businesses and philanthropies to form a plan for an equitable response to the COVID-19 pandemic. WHO is collaborating with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to ensure a fair allocation of vaccines to all countries, aiming to deliver 2 billion doses globally for high-risk populations, including 1 billion for low and middle-income countries.

The African Union has endorsed the need for Africa to develop a framework to actively engage in the development and access to COVID-19 vaccines. Countries can take steps now that will strengthen health systems, improve immunization delivery, and pave the way for the introduction of a COVID-19 vaccine. These include: mobilizing financial resources; strengthening local vaccine manufacturing, and regulatory, supply and distribution systems; building workforce skills and knowledge; enhancing outreach services; and listening to community concerns to counter misinformation.

According to her, Gylobally, there are nearly 150 COVID-19 vaccine candidates and currently 19 are in clinical trials. South Africa is the first country on the continent to start a clinical trial with the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg testing a vaccine developed by the Oxford Jenner Institute in the United Kingdom. The South African Ox1Cov-19 Vaccine VIDA-Trial is expected to involve 2000 volunteers aged 18–65 years and include some people living with HIV. The vaccine is already undergoing trials in the United Kingdom and Brazil with thousands of participants.

According to the African Academy of Sciences only 2% of clinical trials conducted worldwide occur in Africa. It is important to test the COVID-19 vaccine in countries where it is needed to ensure that it will be effective. With more than 215 000 cases, South Africa accounts for 43% of the continent’s total cases. Clinical trials must be performed according to international and national scientific and ethical standards, which include informed consent for any participant.

Moeti encouraged more countries in the region to join these trials so that the contexts and immune response of populations in Africa are factored in to studies”. “Africa has the scientific expertise to contribute widely to the search for an effective COVID-19 vaccine. Indeed, our researchers have helped develop vaccines which provide protection against communicable diseases such as meningitis, Ebola, yellow fever and a number of other common health threats in the region.”

Earlier, this month WHO Africa’s principle advisory group on immunization policies and programmes – the African Regional Immunization Technical Advisory Group (RITAG) – also noted the need to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 and other vaccines in the region.

“As the world focuses on finding a vaccine for COVID-19, we must ensure people do not forget that dozens of lifesaving vaccines already exist. These vaccines should reach children everywhere in Africa – no one can be left behind,” said Professor Helen Rees, Chair of the RITAG.

Initial analysis of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on immunization in the African Region suggests that millions of African children are likely to be negatively impacted, as routine immunization services and vaccination campaigns for polio, cholera, measles, yellow fever, meningitis and human papilloma virus have been disrupted.

Despite these challenges, RITAG members also noted significant milestones and markers of progress. For example, there have been tremendous gains in the fight against wild poliovirus, and the African Region is expected to be officially certified free of wild poliovirus in August 2020. The Democratic Republic of the Congo also announced the end of its 10th Ebola outbreak in eastern DRC, which was the worst in its history. An effective vaccine was a key tool in the response.

Moeti spoke about COVID-19 vaccine development in Africa during a virtual press conference today organized by APO Group. She was joined by Professor Shabir Madhi, University of Witwatersrand, Principal Investigator of Oxford Covid-19 Vaccine Trial in South Africa; and Professor Pontiano Kaleebu, Director of the MCR/UVRI and LSHTM Ugandan Research Unit. The briefing was streamed on more than 300 African news sites as well as the WHO Regional Office for Africa’s Twitter and Facebook accounts.

Says, Public , Private Hospitals Nationwide To Become Collection Sites.

TOYIN ADEBAYO, ABUJA

Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire has warned health workers against unprofessional disposal of used Personal Protective Equipments (PPEs) in common waste dumps, where scavengers have been seen to pick them up for risky reuse.

He said this is dangerous and a sure pathway to promoting community transmission. Adding that all COVID-19 waste is to be Incinerated.

Ehanire gave this warning on Monday at the Presidential Task Force press briefing on Covid-19, in Abuja.

While adding that, the Ministry of Health planned to boost overall COVID-19 sample collection, by preparing all eligible public and private hospitals nationwide to become collection sites.

According to him, “This will require working with State governments and NPHCDA to identify the facilities and the space within them, to conduct training for the personnel selected and supply both PPEs and sample collection kits, as well as the logistics to go around to recover test samples, and so better utilize available laboratory assets in the country, which even now are capable of handling far more cases than they presently do. If logistics around sample collection and delivery to test sites are better organized, a lot more will be achieved. However, the more we test, the more confirmed cases we shall find, of which the vulnerable will have to be prioritized for admission to treatment centers, even if they are not yet showing symptoms. States will be encouraged to use all opportunities to isolate other asymptomatic cases who may not qualify for supervised self Isolation, for the period they are deemed to be infectious or are at risk of infecting the vulnerable. It will also mean scaling up treatment and Isolation centers in states and the logistics for managing them.

“As of today 6th of July 2020, Nigeria has recorded a total of 28,711 confirmed COVID-19 cases, out of 152,952 tests conducted, of which 11,665 have been treated successfully and discharged. We have regrettably recorded 645 fatalities.

“Taking the statistics of the month of June alone, a total of 15,532 cases were confirmed from 74,580 tests, with 303 deaths on record. This means that just under half of the total fatalities so far recorded, occurred in the single month of June; while we more than doubled the tests done and the number of cases detected. The reduction in case fatality rate is down to about 2.2%, in line with our plan, going forward. But it also draws our attention to the speed with which COVID-19 is growing, the time it took to double itself, and the reminder that we need to improve on our responses, to continue to strive for the best and prepare for worse”, he said.

Speaking on the petitions and reports available to him, Ehanire appealed to citizens, especially those Covid-19 positive who feel no symptoms at all, not to take invitation to treatment centers as persecution, but to cooperate with health officials and understand that measures taken are protective and in the interest of all of us.

He further stated that, a strong 17 man team of the Federal Ministry of Health, led by the Executive Director of National Primary Health Development Agency, left Abuja for Calabar this morning to engage with the Cross River State government in setting up their covid19 response and aligning it with the national response. Agencies and many departments of the Ministry of Health, like NCDC, Hospital Services, Family Health, are represented in the delegation, to ensure the appropriate technical handshake between Federal and State service delivery pillars and also ensure that the disruption of routine medical services, which has been observed in many States, is minimized or eliminated in CRS. We have also called on the CRS NMA to suspend their strike action and receive the Ministry’s delegation. At the request of His Excellency the Governor of CRS, a senior Immigration officer is on Board to study the border challenges with Cameroon, as well as a Port Health officer to assess risks posed by sea travelers arriving CRS ports particularly from neighboring Central African countries of Congo, Gabon, Cameroon Angola etc. CRS is known to be a producer of various PPEs, including masks, for which the Governor wants SON endorsement, to have access to patronage.

With regard to Kogi, he hinted that, arrangements are under way to beef up security at FMC Medical Center Lokoja for protection of staff and patients. The Federal government will do all it can to attend to the needs of the citizens, while we seek ways to engage the State authorities.

Ehanire stated that the unfortunate figures on COVID-19 we see in other countries every day are sobering and must instruct us, that it is not the way we want to go. To protect ourselves more, I must advise citizens again that it is not enough to ask “what is government doing”? The question now is also, “what are you doing”? Whether as communities, associations or individuals, we are all in this together. It is not the Federal Government alone. This novel virus is highly contagious and if we do not cooperate and sacrifice, if we refuse to get treatment and decide to infect others, we could be responsible for some cases leading to death.

He added that, the Federal Government through the NCDC has launched an E-Learning platform on Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) for healthcare workers. We urge them to utilize it, but shall also refocus on training states with high health workers infection. Infection rates in our treatment centres have however reduced overall. PPEs have been distributed to health facilities in good numbers and the use is being monitored to reduce wastage. I urge our health workers to ensure appropriate use. I also remind everyone that Covid19 treatment facilities not accredited by the responsible State or FCT accreditation committee are illegal and risky.

TOYIN ADEBAYO, ABUJA

The World Health Organisation (WHO), has revealed that COVID-19 infections in Africa today (Wednesday), surpassed 500 000, and there is concern as a growing number of countries are experiencing a sharp rise in cases.

Saying, it said in less than five months, the virus has claimed 11, 959 lives, overtaking the 11 308 lives lost in the world’s worst Ebola outbreak in West Africa between 2014 and 2016.

WHO added that cases have more than doubled in 22 countries in the region over the past month, saying nearly two-thirds of countries are experiencing community transmission.

It said Algeria, Egypt, Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa account for about 71% of COVID-19 cases, adding that South Africa alone accounts for 43% of the continent’s total cases.

However, the accelerating growth trend is not uniform across the continent, with some countries recording a steady rise in cases, indicating a protracted pandemic.

“Eritrea, Gambia, Mali, Seychelles and Togo are witnessing long doubling times and low growth rates. Seychelles had not experienced a case in nearly two months, but in the past week had dozens of new imported cases, linked to crew members of an international fishing vessel. There are also some signs of progress as 10 countries have experienced a downward trend over the past month. Although Egypt accounts for 15 percent of cumulative cases, it has seen a decline in the past week”, WHO said.

The World Health Organization (WHO) Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti said, “With more than a third of countries in Africa doubling their cases over the past month, the threat of COVID-19 overwhelming fragile health systems on the continent is escalating.

“So far the continent has avoided disaster and if countries continue to strengthen key public health measures such as testing, tracing contacts and isolating cases, we can slow down the spread of the virus to a manageable level.”

Eighty-eight per cent of COVID-19 infections are among people aged 60 and below, likely due to Africa’s relatively young population. However, the likelihood of dying from COVID-19 rises with increasing age and the existence of co-morbidities, with the risk of death among patients aged 60 years and above being 10 times higher compared with those below 60.

Also, the WHO Director for the Eastern Mediterranean Dr Ahmed Al-Mandhari, added that, “Communities across the continent have a crucial role to play in controlling the pandemic, especially as countries begin easing lockdowns and opening up their borders”

“As governments continue to implement public health measures, individuals must remain as cautious and vigilant as ever to protect themselves, their families, and their communities. Hand washing, mask use, physical distancing and other preventative measures are key to controlling transmission, saving lives, and ensuring that already overwhelmed health systems are not stretched to breaking point.”

The organization said as COVID-19 continues to spread, thousands of health workers have also fallen ill, saying equipping and protecting health workers is one of the central pillars of the COVID-19 response.

WHO is working to support countries respond to COVID-19 by providing technical guidance, crucial medical equipment and has remotely trained more than 25 000 health workers.

WHO has also organized more than 420 shipments of key equipment, including more than 3000 oxygen concentrators, 23 000 GeneXpert diagnostic testing machines and almost 4 million pieces of personal protective equipment for health care workers.

TOYIN ADEBAYO, ABUJA

Within the framework of the ECOWAS-UNESCO Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), the UNESCO Regional Director, Yao Ydo and the ECOWAS Commissioner for Education, Science and Culture, Leopoldo Amado signed a joint statement on 3rd July 2020, for a joint response to COVID-19 in West African countries.

The response, they say is in line with UNESCO’s mission of contributing to the building of a culture of peace, the eradication of poverty, sustainable development and intercultural dialogue, and the mandate of ECOWAS to promote socio-economic integration and development in all its Member States.

Conscious of the adverse impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on health, education, socio-cultural and economic activities of all 15 member-states of ECOWAS, the two entities have developed a joint work plan of interventions to mitigate the effects of the pandemic.

The strategic work plan with clear expected results for the immediate and long terms includes programmes in the fields of education, science and culture.

It includes capacity building interventions to ensure continuity of learning during the pandemic and training in pedagogical and administrative reforms for the reopening of schools in post COVID-19; assistance in strengthening Science Technology and Innovation (STI) Systems; and support for the promotion of cultural heritage and artistic expressions.

UNESCO and ECOWAS, have pooled financial and technical resources for the actualization of the joint response. Both institutions welcome this important step in their cooperation and commit to further strengthening it to ensure the achievement of the regional and global developmental goals in ECOWAS Member States.