By Patrick Ochei

[dropcap] T[/dropcap]he Nigerian Medical Association, NMA Delta State Chapter has called on its members not to go near any Covid-19 patient without putting on their Personal Protective Equipment, PPE, adding that doctors and healthcare workers need to be adequately protected to save lives.

The call was made during a press briefing by the group at their Secretariat in Asaba, Friday 17, April, 2020.

Briefing the press, the State Chairman of NMA, Dr. Ekeneam N. Omo said that doctors and healthcare workers in the State had been mandated not to go near any Covid-19 patient without their protective kits, especially the HAZMAT suit.

Ekeneam underscored the utmost need to protect health workers during the ravaging global pandemic, making reference to the loss of a doctor in Lagos and another in Katsina whose wife was also infected.

He stated that over 25 doctors were currently in isolation centre at University of Benin Teaching Hospital, UBTH having been infected, stressing that the Association would not close its eyes to allow its members die as a result of inadequate protection.

He however agreed that government was doing a lot but needed to do more, urging it to keep doing more until the war against the Coronavirus pandemic is won.

According to him, “Covid-19 is a novel disease because of the mode of spread. It’s an airwaves disease and that is why everybody must take precautionary measures.

“Covid-19 is not a political scam. You have to obey the ‘stay at home’ instruction, which is not a punishment but a critical sacrifice towards containing the spread of the virus. In addition, you must regularly wash your hands or sanitize them with alcohol based hand sanitizers and then wear a mask”, the Chairman posited.

Moreover, the NMA Chairman called on government to immediately review the hazard allowance, which he said had been a long standing demand even before Covid-19. He said the allowance of N5000 to healthcare workers was meagre and not commensurate with the risk the healthcare workers go through to manage patients, even before Covid-19.

He also demanded for the institution of compensation package for all doctors and healthcare workers who die or suffer disability from attending to patients suffering from Covid-19 infection, which could be in the form of life and disability insurance.

Other areas of concern to the Medical Practitioners in this Covid-19 period include, the demand for a tax relief for all healthcare workers as a morale booster, special allowances for healthcare workers attending to patients in isolation centres, speedy stimulus package from government to the people and adequate measures to curtail the spread of Covid-19 even after the lockdown.

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Mallam Abba Kyari, has died.

A statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, on Saturday morning, said Kyari died on Friday. It was be recalled that Mallam Kyari tested positive for COVID-19 in March and was taken to Lagos for treatment.

Although the statement did not disclose where he died, it said burial arrangement for the late Chief of Staff would be announced soon.

“The Presidency regrets to announce the passage of the Chief of Staff to the President, Mallam Abba Kyari.

“The deceased had tested positive to the ravaging COVID-19, and had been receiving treatment. But he died on Friday, April 17, 2020.

“May God accept his soul.

[dropcap]C[/dropcap]hief Ambrose Elofu-Dike,The Chairman of Umudike Farms Limited and Hotel De Espana,Asaba has thrown his weights behind Governor Ifeanyi Okowa’s two-week extension of the lockdown order aimed at checking COVID-19 spread in the state and has appealed for calm over the recent protests in Sapele-Delta State.

Elofu-Dike, made the appeal in a telephone chat with Grassroots Publishers online , however he condemned the alleged shooting of one of the protesters by security agents and called for the arrest and prosecution of the culprit(s).

He said that the arrest and prosecution of trigger-free Police Officer would serve as deterrent to others. While noting that the lockdown has caused untold hardship on the people, the Farmer and Hotelier pointed out that the long-term benefits of the stay-at-home order is to protect the citizens from contracting the deadly Coronavirus (Covid-19).He explained that authorities at all levels of government are making frantic efforts to get palliatives to the poorest of the poor.
“No doubt, the lockdown has caused difficulties and inconveniences for many citizens but in these trying times, it takes courage for our elected leaders to adopt global best practices by extending the lockdown so as to curb the spread of the deadly Coronavirus disease and save lives.

“As our amiable Governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State has said, our common objective is to contain the spread
of the Coronavirus and to provide space, time and resources for an aggressive and collective action while ongoing
comprehensive public health measures including case identification, testing, isolation and contact tracing capabilities
are intensified.

“No doubt, the lockdown has caused many inconveniences for millions, especially for our daily wage earners and many
others in the informal sector but for a disease that ravages with no guarantee of cure, and the fact that life has no
duplicate, staying at home to curb its spread is a most reasonable imperative.

“Too many lives are being lost and far too many families are going through deep grief caused by Covid-19;all over the
world, while the Delta State government weighs possibilities of making things better, we should all strive to
appreciate the deep seriousness of the issue.

“Nonetheless, warnings about social distancing, hand-washing and other preventive measures given by relevant state and
federal authorities deserve our adherence.

“These are trying times, palliatives and sacrificial giving from government, the private sector and individuals can make
things easier. Importantly, we all need to support efforts being made by the federal and state authorities including the
Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) towards curbing Corvid-19 and saving our people’s lives,” he stated.
“It is regrettable that we have four cases in Delta.It is unfortunate though, that one of the victims died shortly
after. May his soul rest in peace.”

Elofu-Dike, however, expressed what he described as “discriminatory” manner the federal government was sharing
government’s palliative to cushion the effects of the stay-at-home order.

“We at Hotel de Espana in its entirety, the Federal Government’s discriminatory manner of allocating more of the
palliative money to the North to the detriment of the Niger Delta States that contribute 90% of the country’s revenue.

“We further urge every Delta sons and daughters to maintain the sit-at-home order to avoid the spread of the disease and
possibly contracting it he added.

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]housands of protesters stormed timber town in Sapele, Delta State , on Wednesday, demanding an end to the extension of lockdown in the state. The governor, Ifeanyi Okowa had in a broadcast to residents of the state, Tuesday morning, announced the extension of the 14-day Lockdown which began on April 1, for another two weeks and imposing a dusk to dawn curfew.

Few hours after the broadcast, hundreds of women took to the streets of the town, as early as 7:30am demanding an end to the lockdown. Chanting “we no go gree o, we no go gree” by some of the women, others chanted “freedom, freedom” the women in their thousands were joined by other residents of the town including artisans, tricycle motorcycle riders, and others.

“We prefer to come outside and die than to be locked indoor, we have stayed inside for two weeks we can’t go to the market, we can’t go anywhere, we are hungry, we will not accept this” Vanguard quoted one of the protesters, Madam Tina Akpometiro as saying.

According to the report, the Sapele local government chairman, Hon Eugene Inoaghan, tried to pacify the crowd with loads of security men but the crowd didn’t bulge. They kept chanting “we want freedom, we want freedom” however there was pandemonium when the chairman left, with the crowd openly confronting security men with stones, an action that led to burning of tyres and wood.

[dropcap]D[/dropcap]elta state capital,Asaba, experienced its first curfew in history from 7pm on Wednesday, April 15, to terminate at 7am on Thursday, on the orders of the state Governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, to further enforce the stay – at – home order prompted by the fight against the corona virus. The curfew is for a period of two weeks.

According to our reporter who monitored compliance in some parts of the capital city, the popular Koka junction, on the Onitsha/Benin expressway was busy with activities at 7 on the dot.

There was no presence of security personnel from the junction to Summit junction on the expressway, as okada, taxi cabs and mini buses operated without challenge.

The story was, however, different at Summit road junction where a police check point was in place to monitor vehicular movement, with the ever busy junction totally deserted.

The next check point was at the Inter Bau junction and the policemen there were dutiful.

No other check point was seen from the Inter Bau junction to the Police ‘A’ Division, though the entire stretch was free of vehicular and human traffic.

Traffic Light junction also had a watertight check point and no vehicle or person was seen outside, except those who had cause to be out by virtue of the conditions spelt out by government.

The curfew continues tomorrow.

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he Federal Government has said that people with over N5, 000 in their bank account will not benefit from the palliatives to cushion the effect of the lockdown as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The government also said that it will be using the mobile networks, to know people that top up the credit units for their phones with may be N100 or less.

Besides, the state governments will now be involved in the distribution of food items. Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, Hajiya Sadiya Farouq stated this while briefing State House correspondents after meeting behind closed doors with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The Minister also said that the Ministry will now focus on the urban poor as it carries out with President Buhari’s directive on the distribution of palliatives to cushion the effects of COVID-19 on Nigerians. According to her, “You are aware that the President in his broadcast of Monday 13th April, directed that we expand the beneficiaries of the conditional cash transfer by one million and in this regard, we are going to focus more now on the urban poor. “These are people who depend on the informal sector to earn their livelihood; they are daily wage earners and these are the people that we are really going to focus more on as well as people living with disabilities.”

Giving details on how to identify the beneficiaries of the stimulus, she said that the Ministry has three options to be adopted in selecting the beneficiaries of the scheme. She said, “Well, we have three options; one, we are going to use the national social register that we already have, two, we are also going to focus on the urban poor as I mentioned, by using their verified BVN accounts to get them, that is, people that have an account balance of N5, 000 and below. “We are also using the mobile networks, to know people that top up the credit units for their phones with may be N100 or less.

Those are also people that we consider to be poor and vulnerable. So, these are the three options that we are exploring and I am sure that by the time we get this data we will be able to give this intervention.” She, however, said only 25 percent of the population would benefit for now, adding that the scope might be expanded later. She said, “Let me also say that we have a standard. 25 percent of the total population is what we will take out. It cannot go round everywhere but we are starting from somewhere. “25 percent of let’s say the location of Lagos state for example is what is going to benefit from this intervention that we are doing. Going forward, we might expand it but this is what is obtainable for now.”

The Minister said her ministry intends to handover the distribution of food relief items to State governments, so as to address the challenges associated with distribution faced in the past. She said, “On the issue of palliatives in terms of food relief, we have an emergency response plan in place. In the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, we have different functional groups.

“One of such groups, is that which deals with mass care, logistics and security, to be led by the National Emergency Management Agency under the Ministry and they have a structure; from National, States, down to Local Governments, where the various State Emergency Agencies and other security agencies are involved in this distribution. “So far, we have already done the distribution together with the State authorities in these two states affected by the lockdown, together with the FCT but going forward, when we are going to give these food items, we are going to hand them over to the states because issues have come up, as at yesterday (Monday,).

“Our people were mobbed, some of them were attacked in the course of carrying out this assignment so the general conclusion is that we give this food relief directly to the State governments for them to distribute to the beneficiaries.” EU Donation Also speaking on the N21 billion support given to Nigeria by the European Union to fight COVID-19, the Minister said the donation is coming in form of medical equipment and provision of structures that will help Nigeria fight the deadly disease.

“This donation is coming in kind basically by way of medical equipment and also some structure to be put in place as a response to this COVID-19 pandemic. “In that intervention, there are also humanitarian issues that would be addressed.

As you are aware, this is a health emergency but at the same time it is also a humanitarian emergency so the Ministry is going to come in here because we are to coordinate all humanitarian interventions coming into the country by way of making sure that such interventions get to the poor and vulnerable in our society,” she said. Vanguard

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he United States President, Donald Trump, has announced the suspension of funding to the World Health Organisation, claiming the agency had covered up the seriousness of the COVID-19 outbreak in China allowing it to spread around the world.

Mr Trump on Tuesday at a press conference said he has instructed his administration to halt funding while “a review is conducted to assess the WHO’s role in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus.”

Mr Trump had accused the WHO of wasting “tremendous amounts of time” in its coronavirus response.

While Mr Trump blamed the international health agency for the pandemic, reports show that he also ignored warnings from his own intelligence agencies of the virus’s severity.

The president had six days ago threatened to suspend the U.S. funding for the agency while expressing grievances with its handling of the novel coronavirus.

“They missed the call. They could have called it months earlier. They would have known, and they should have known, and they probably did know,” he had earlier said.

According to Mr Trump, WHO prevented transparency over the outbreak. The United States is the largest contributor to the UN body – provided $400 million last year — and will now “discuss what to do with all that money that goes to the WHO.”

“With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have deep concerns whether America’s generosity has been put to the best use possible,” Mr Trump added.

Rising cases and deaths toll

Meanwhile, the U.S. has now topped the chart of the countries with the highest number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 globally.

As at 23:03 GMT Tuesday, about 2,284 coronavirus-related deaths were reported, according to worldometers.info, bringing U.S. deaths from the outbreak to 25,924.

New York City, which has emerged as the global epicentre for the virus, increased its death toll by an additional 3,700 people who were previously not included in those figures.

The city’s new tally has climbed to more than 10,000, edging the U.S. count to 26,000.