As Africa’s biggest economy, the federal government has continued to enforce regulations across the board even though most state governments have moved to relax restrictions.
The national response is led by the Presidential Task Force, PTF, led by SGF Boss Mustapha along with a national coordinator and relevant ministers – chief among them, Health, Foreign Affairs and Education ministries. At the heart of the response is the Nigeria Center for Disease Control,
NCDC.
This article is dedicated to covering events from the country throughout the month of July. Our May 2020 page and June 2020 coverage also gives you a rundown of major developments.
July 19: 36,107 cases; Foreign Affairs Minister infected
Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama confirmed today that he had tested positive for the virus, becoming the latest top politician to be infected.
He disclosed via Twitter that his positive result came from his fourth test since the virus entered the country. He said he was going into isolation in a health facility.
“Did my fourth Covid-19 test yesterday at the first sign of a throat irritation and unfortunately this time it came back positive. That is life! Win some lose some. Heading for isolation in a health facility and praying for the best,” his tweet read.
The Minister had been a key part of the PTF attending most of its meetings and giving key updates especially in the area of evacuation of nationals from across the world. He had also been holding engagements with diplomats and other envoys at his office in Abuja.
Local airline Azman Airline also reported that it was evacuating national stranded in Saudi Arabia. The airline said 117 passengers were on board the flight expected to arrive in Abuja in the early hours of Monday.
Confirmed cases = 36,107
Active cases = 20,391
Recoveries = 14,938
Number of deaths = 778
John Hopkins Uni stats valid as of July 18, 2020
"
BREAKING NEWS.
EVACUATION FLIGHT
We are pleased to announce that AzmanAir is currently operating an Evacuation Flight out of Jeddah
Flight ZQ380/381 conveying 117 Stranded Nigerians will arrive Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja early hours of 20th July#AzmanAirCares
pic.twitter.com/gS8A3rrACM
— AzmanAir - #LetsFlyAzmanAir (AzmanAir) July 19, 2020"
"
Some of the evacuees are Nigerians in France, Hungary, Romania, Poland, Norway, Germany, Holland, UK and Canada. All passengers tested negative before boarding.
#StayHomeSaveLives
#COVID19 #PTFCOVID19
NigeriaGov
DigiCommsNG
FMICNigeria
— Geoffrey Onyeama (GeoffreyOnyeama) July 19, 2020"
July 13: 32,558 cases; eight states with over 1,000 cases
Nigeria’s case load reached 32,558 as of close of day July 12, 2020. The NCDC stats indicated that over 550 new cases were recorded. Recoveries hit 13,447 whiles the death toll stood at 740.
Seven states along with the capital Abuja had recorded over 1,000 cases since the index case was recorded. Lagos by a mile is the most impacted state with 12,427 cases. FCT has 2,576 whiles Edo and Oyo’s 1,731 and 1,726 tallies respectively complete the top four slots.
Rivers, Delta, Kano and Ogun states complete the 1000+ list whiles Kaduna is inching towards joining the club. The state currently has 989 cases.
Confirmed cases = 32,558
Active cases = 18,371
Recoveries = 13,447
Number of deaths = 740
John Hopkins Uni stats valid as of July 10, 2020
July 11: 31,323 cases; govt launches test kit
The federal government has launched a diagnostic kit, which can detect the causal agent of
COVID-19. It is known as
RNASwift,
The kit was outdoored tt a press conference on Tuesday by the National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA), the agency that developed it.
NABDA director-general Alex Akpa, told journalists the
RNASwift test kit is an indigenous diagnostic test kit designed, developed and validated in Nigeria for the identification of the causal agent – SARS-Cov-2 – which causes
COVID-19.
He stressed that the kit will not only revolutionalise Africa’s PCR-based COVID-19 testing but also expand the capacity by at least, 50 times. Another advantage it presents was the reduced cost by over 500 percent as compared to the conventional kit in use.
He said the diagnostic kit is “very accurate and sensitive’’ and competes favourably with conventional and commercially available kits for the diagnosis of
COVID-19.
The project was undertaken in collaborative effort between
NABDA, Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), and Nigerian Institute for Medical Research (NIMR). It is not known as yet when it will be deployed to test samples.
On the education front, whiles the federal government has put off the reopening of schools, the canceling of the West Africa Examination Council, WAEC; exams has received a high level condemnation.
Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has kicked against the move saying that Nigeria stood to lose. “As a parent and investor in the education sector, I wish to register that the Nigerian government’s policy of unilaterally cancelling the West African Senior School Certificate Examination, held annually by the West African Examinations Council, is not in Nigeria’s best interest.
“At a time of the global COVID19 pandemic, it is understandable that an abundance of caution be put in place to save lives. However, caution, without consultation, and thoughtful action, may be counterproductive.
“1.5 million Nigerian youths write the West African Senior School Certificate Examination annually. To abruptly cancel this examination is to set back our nation’s youth, and place them behind their contemporaries in other West African countries,” he said in a Twitter thread on Friday.
In giving an alternative to the cancellation, the former veep wrote: “We could mobilise all available public & private infrastructures, including primary schools, stadia, and cinemas, for the examinations. In the alternative, the Federal Government can prevail on WAEC to have staggered examinations with a different set of questions for each shift.
“Doing so will allow WAEC Nigeria to implement social distancing and achieve the goal of carrying out the examinations. A win-win scenario.”
Confirmed cases = 31,323
Active cases = 17,819
Recoveries = 12,795
Number of deaths = 709
John Hopkins Uni stats valid as of July 10, 2020
"
We are getting ready to start the hand over event of critical medical equipment from #Ecowas / OoasWaho to NigeriaGov to help support #COVID19 response in #Nigeria.
pic.twitter.com/9baEU9Mw5C
— Federal Ministry of Health, NIGERIA (@Fmohnigeria) July 11, 2020"
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