Over 80 drone applications under review, training centre in pipeline — NCAA
Stories by Dickson Omobola Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, has said it is in the process of approving a new aviation training facility for drone operators. NCAA’s Director of Aerodrome and Airspace Standards, Engineer Godwin Balang, said the agency has chosen to be methodical to ensure the facility met all operational benchmarks. Balang, who spoke at the […]
Indonesia minister arrested over pandemic aid corruption
Indonesia’s social affairs minister was arrested Sunday for allegedly taking $1.2 million in bribes linked to food aid for those hit by the coronavirus pandemic. Juliari Batubara was named as a suspect after Indonesian anti-corruption agents seized suitcases, backpacks and envelopes stuffed with cash equivalent to $1.2 million in a sting operation on Saturday. He […]
Health minister tests positive after getting COVID-19 vaccine trial dose
Health Minister of the northern Indian state of Haryana Anil Vij, who was given a trial dose of a Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine in November, tested positive for the virus on Saturday. Vij, who is the holding charge of several ministries including health, said on Twitter that he had contracted the virus. He urged people, who […]
Oxygen shortage leaves six COVID-19 patients dead in Pakistan
At least six Covid-19 patients died after “criminal negligence” resulted in a delayed supply of oxygen to a hospital in northwest Pakistan, officials said Sunday, as the country battles a second wave of the epidemic. More than 200 patients — including nearly 100 with coronavirus — were left for hours with limited supplies of oxygen […]
UK vaccine rollout set to begin with queen in line for jab
Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II will receive the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine within weeks, reports on Sunday said, as the biggest immunisation programme in UK history begins next week. The monarch, 94, and her 99-year-old husband Prince Philip are in line to get the jab early in the rollout, which gets underway Tuesday, due to their age […]
Hundreds protest against coronavirus restrictions in Germany
Hundreds of people took to the streets to protest against coronavirus measures in the German city of Dusseldorf on Sunday, and were met by hundreds of counter-protesters. Supporters of the Querdenken movement, or Lateral Thinking, had registered 1,000 people to demonstrate against what they say is a “mask lie.” A dpa reporter on the scene […]
China COVID-19 testing blunders stemmed from secret deals with firms
In the early days in Wuhan, the first city struck by the virus, getting a COVID test was so difficult that residents compared it to winning the lottery. Throughout the Chinese city in January, thousands of people waited in hours-long lines for hospitals, sometimes next to corpses lying in hallways. But most couldn’t get the […]
COVID-19: Lack of oxygen hindering patients’ treatment ― DR Congo Health officials
Hospitals in Kinshasa are struggling to treat rising coronavirus cases because of a lack of oxygen supplies, health officials in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) said Saturday. “The number of cases is rising and the cases are more and more serious,” said epidemiologist Jean-Jacques Muyembe, head of the team leading the country’s response […]
Obama, Bush, Clinton volunteer to publicly receive COVID-19 vaccine
Former US presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton are volunteering to take a coronavirus vaccine on camera if it will help promote public confidence. Obama, in an interview with SiriusXM radio, said he would be inoculated if top US infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci signs off on a Covid-19 vaccine. “If Anthony […]
US coronavirus hospitalizations hit all-time high
The number of people hospitalized with Covid-19 in the United States surpassed 100,000 – an all-time high – as the pandemic rages on and strains health care systems. A record 100,226 Americans were in hospital with Covid-19 as of Wednesday, according to data compiled by the Covid Tracking Project, the latest in a weeks-long streak […]
COVID-19: NCDC reports 281 new infections in Nigeria
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has announced 281 new infections of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) in the country. The NCDC made this known via its verified Website on Tuesday. The agency said that the infections brought the total number of cases in Nigeria to 67,838. Of the new infections, data obtained from the agency’s […]
COVID-19: 17 NYSC members test positive in Abia
By Ugochukwu Alaribe Commissioner for Health, Abia State, Dr Joe Osuji has disclosed that 17 members of the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, currently at the orientation camp at Umunna, Bende council area, have tested positive for COVID-19. Osuji, who stated this in an interview with journalists, explained that the corps members underwent compulsory testing […]
COVID-19: NCDC announces 82 new cases
The Nigeria Centre For Disease Control (NCDC) has confirmed 82 new infections of the coronavirus (COVID-19) in the country. The NCDC made this known via its verified website on Sunday. The public health agency said that the infections brought the total number of cases in the country to 67,412. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) […]
Africa lacks preparedness for virus vaccine roll-out ― WHO
The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Thursday urged African countries to improve their capacity to vaccinate populations against Covid-19, warning the continent was still “far from ready” for mass immunisation. With three coronavirus vaccines now showing efficacy rates of 70 percent or more, the UN body called on Africa to “ramp up” preparations for “the […]
COVID-19: Nigeria confirms 56 new infections
The Nigeria Centre For Disease Control (NCDC) has confirmed 56 new infections of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) in the country. The NCDC made this known via its verified website on Monday. It said that the infections brought the total number of cases in the country to 66,439. The NCDC said that the new infections were from nine states […]
$169bn for 29,000 lives? Study calculates cost of US shutdowns
There’s little doubt that US government-ordered business shutdowns to stop the spread of Covid-19 damaged the US economy, but the exact cost has not been clear. Researchers from HEC Paris business school and Bocconi University in Milan have reached a sobering calculation: the closures beginning at the pandemic’s onset in March through May saved 29,000 […]
