The Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19 (PSC) has urged Nigerians to celebrate the Christmas and New Year holidays responsibly. The Chairman, PSC on COVID-19, who is also the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Boss Mustapha made the call in a statement on Thursday in Abuja. “As we prepare to celebrate with our families […]

Data from the African Union (AU) on Thursday shows that the Omicron variant of the coronavirus is spreading rapidly across the African continent. “As of Thursday, 22 countries have reported the presence of the Omicron variant. We can see clearly: the Omicron is spreading very quickly,” said John Nkengasong of the AU’s Africa Centres for […]

By Joseph Erunke – Abuja The federal government has destroyed about 1,066,214 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines donated to the country to combat COVID-19. The destruction carried out on Wednesday in Abuja, according to the government, followed the expiration of the vaccines given to the country by foreign donors. The National Primary Health Care Development Agency, NPHCDA […]

Health Minister Olivier Veran said on Wednesday that France could soon see 100,000 new COVID-19 cases a day, due to the rapid spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant. Veran said despite all, the government does not plan to introduce new restrictions for the time being as the country expected 22-23 million booster doses that would […]

By Juliet Umeh As the Omicron variant dominates the COVID-19 news cycle, a new report by the  Partnership for Evidence-based Response to Covid-19, PERC, has shown that 78 per cent of people in Africa are willing to be vaccinated. The report said that across 19 countries surveyed, 78 per cent of people indicated that they […]

Nigeria recorded 2,123 new COVID-19 infections on Tuesday, its highest ever daily infection since the outbreak of the virus in February 2020. Wednesday’s figure was 755 higher than the 1,368 infections recorded on Tuesday. It was the first time Nigeria was experiencing a ballooning of its daily difference in new infections. The Nigeria Centre for […]

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has returned to work after finishing a week of self-isolation due to testing positive for the Coronavirus (COVID-19), his office said on Monday. Ramaphosa, who was given Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine in February, tested positive for COVID-19 on Dec. 12 and received treatment for mild symptoms. READ ALSO: WHO approves […]

President Muhammadu Buhari on Saturday tasked Nigerian universities to come up with a cure for Coronavirus (COVID-19). Represented by Mr John Mairafi, a Director with the National Universities Commission (NUC), Buhari gave the charge in Oye-Ekiti, at the 5th and 6th convocation ceremony of the Federal University (FUOYE). He charged scholars in universities to engage […]

By Chioma Obinna To increase access to vaccination in lower – income countries, the World Health Organisation has issued an emergency use listing (EUL) for NVX-CoV2373, raising the number of WHO – validated COVID-19 vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 virus to 9. The vaccine, named CovovaxTM, is produced by the Serum Institute of India under licence […]

The Omicron coronavirus variant has been reported in 89 countries and the number of cases is doubling in 1.5 to 3 days in areas with community transmission, the World Health OrganiSation (WHO) said on Saturday. Omicron is spreading rapidly in countries with high levels of population immunity, but it is unclear if this is due […]

The travel ban imposed on Nigeria and nine other African countries by the Canadian government has been lifted. The countries placed on the red list are Nigeria, South Africa, Botswana, Egypt, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe. Speaking at a media briefing on Friday, Canada’s Minister of Health, Jean-Yves Duclos, said the ban was […]

Africa is being left behind, having received only 450 million of the eight billion COVID vaccine doses distributed. Dr Richard Mihigo, Immunization and Vaccines Development Programme, Coordinator World Health Organisation’s Regional Office for Africa (WHO AFRO), made this known while speaking on “Vaccination in Africa: Research Capacity, Advocacy, Manufacturing and Distribution”, at the ongoing first International Conference on […]

The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) says all the 1,404 corps members  posted to Borno have been vaccinated for COVID-19. The NYSC Coordinator in Borno, Alhaji Nura Umar made the disclosure on Tuesday in Katsina at the closing ceremony of the three weeks orientation course for the 2021 batch ‘C’ Stream II Corps members. The […]

… Says only 20% of inbound passengers submit for tests By Chioma Obinna  & Gabriel Olawale  The Lagos State Government on Tuesday said it has commenced the prosecution of inbound international passengers who fail to submit themselves for Day 2 and Day 7 PCR tests as mandated by the Federal COVID-19 protocols and guidelines. The […]

By Bashir Bello Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano State has inaugurated Taskforce Committee to enforce compliance of Covid-19 protocols in hotels and recreational facilities across the state.  Secretary to the Kano state government, Alhaji Usman Alhaji who represented Governor Ganduje at the event said the Committee would among others ensured collection of development levy […]