President of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Ayuba Wabba on Monday urged workers across the country to take the COVID-19 vaccine for ‘a chance to stay alive’.

Wabba’s appeal follows the recent directive of the federal government that civil servants who refuse to be vaccinated will need to show test results, confirming that they are negative before they can access public offices, beginning from December 1.

Addressing a press conference in Abuja, the nation’s capital, the NLC president appealed to workers to take advantage of vaccination provisions made by the federal government, in order to reduce hospitalisations and fatalities among workers.

He noted that, while health issues need to be approached with great caution, it would be foolhardy to undermine the protective powers of vaccines against the virus.

“The truth is that despite being imperfect, the COVID-19 vaccine has given all of us a better chance of fighting the virus and staying alive,” Wabba said.

He continued, “The COVID-19 pandemic has brought some of the biggest strains, stress and squeeze to the workplace. Thousands of workers have already died. In fact, just last week, the World Health Organisation posited that as of the third week of October, we have lost about 180,000 frontline health workers.

“I understand some people prefer to view COVID-19 vaccination with caution. Yes, it is important to proceed on issues of public health with great caution. Yet, it would be foolhardy to elevate caution above scientific evidence and facts from public health records.

“I urge workers all over the world to take advantage of the COVID-19 vaccines and keep themselves, their families and their colleagues at work safe and free from the morbid threats of the corona pandemic.”

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Fatalities associated with COVID-19 in the WHO’s Africa region, which includes North Africa, rose to 6,273 in the week of July 5-11, compared with 4,384 in the previous week.

The agency’s regional director, Matshidiso Moeti, told a virtual press conference that the rise was “a clear warning sign that hospitals in the most affected countries are reaching breaking point”.

It is crucial that African countries to beef up oxygen production to help patients suffering from the disease’s worst symptoms, she said, speaking from the Congo capital of Brazzaville.

The WHO said the rise in deaths paralleled a chronic shortage of vaccines, a spread in the more contagious Delta variant, which was now being detected in 21 African countries, along with public fatigue over prevention measures.

Africa has officially recorded over six million cases of Covid-19, a figure that is far lower than on other continents but one that experts say is likely to be a big underestimate.

Separately, African leaders, in talks with the World Bank on Thursday, appealed for a boost in help to combat the pandemic and ease debt burdens.

“There’s still a lot to be done to overcome this crisis,” said Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara, who opened the meeting in Abidjan.

“Less than three percent of Africa’s total population has received a first dose of vaccine, compared to around 54 percent in the United States and European Union.”

Moussa Faki Mahamat, chairman of the Africa Union Commission, called for help to restructure the debt of struggling African countries, which faced “pressing needs for immediate liquidity to buy vaccines and set down the foundations of economic recovery”.

He said the pandemic had cause joblessness in Africa to rise by between 25 and 30 million, while 40 million had fallen back into extreme poverty.

The meeting is to discuss World Bank aid for African countries over the next three years.

The aid is administered via the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA), which renews the programme every three years.

The talks have been brought forward by a year to help poor countries cope with the impact of the pandemic.

Over the last three years, the IDA has allotted $22 billion (19 billion euro) annually on average.

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The Argentine, who is still in contract negotiations with Barcelona, was given permission to miss training on Friday by coach Ronald Koeman and, with the club now out of the title race, will not play in the away fixture against Eibar.

“The striker can enjoy a rest before next month’s Copa America after a season in which he is one of the players in the squad who has played most,” Barcelona said in a statement.

The 33-year-old has already played 47 matches this season for Barca, scoring 38 goals, but his future at the club remains in doubt as he has been linked with a move to Manchester City where he could join up with former coach Pep Guardiola.

Barcelona’s defeat by Celta Vigo on Sunday leaves them third in La Liga, seven points behind leaders Atletico Madrid and only two ahead of fourth-placed Sevilla.

The Copa America, which was postponed from 2020 because of the coronavirus, begins in Argentina on June 13 with the final on July 10.

The event was due to be co-hosted with Colombia but civil unrest there, which has resulted in 42 deaths, has led to all games being moved to Argentina.

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At least one in three patients hospitalised with Covid-19 suffer long-term health issues including multiple organ problems and deteriorated mental health, according to a review of studies looking at the lasting impact of the disease.

Published in the journal Nature Medicine on Monday, the review looked at the frequency of symptoms among Covid “long-haulers”, the most common of which include fatigue, shortness of breath, anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Authors of the research said the data pointed to an underappreciated health emergency that governments needed to study more closely and find ways to manage.

“Given the millions of people infected by SARS-CoV-2 globally, the long-term cost on physical, cognitive and mental aspects of health still remain to be seen,” lead author Kartik Sehgal, a medical oncologist at Boston’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, told AFP.

“We may be capturing only the tip of the iceberg.”

While severe Covid-19 infects patients’ lungs — leaving many with long term breathing issues — studies have shown that the virus also attacks other organs, leading to a variety of complications including cardiovascular illness and chronic inflammation.

Sehgal and colleagues reviewed nine long-term studies from Europe, the United States and China and found that several patients reported multiple organ problems months after they were discharged from hospital.

Overall, they found that 30 percent of patients studied reported at least one symptom, such as fatigue, shortness of breath and psychiatric conditions.

One study in Italy of 143 patients found that nearly 90 percent reported lingering symptoms 60 days after they recovered from initial Covid-19 infection.

The most common symptoms were fatigue (53.1 percent), shortness of breath (43.4 percent), joint pain (27.3 percent) and chest pain (21.7 percent).

In total, more than half of patients experienced multiple symptoms two months after leaving hospital.

Three studies from France, Britain and China showed that between 25-30 percent of patients reported sleep disturbances weeks after recovering from Covid-19.

And approximately 20 percent of patients had reported hair loss, according to results from multiple studies.

– ‘Medical needs don’t stop’ –

The results regarding mental health were perhaps equally concerning.

In a cohort of 402 survivors in Italy one month after they were hospitalised, 56 percent tested positive for at least one psychiatric condition such as PTSD, depression or anxiety.

The authors said that around 30 percent of patients had developed PTSD after being hospitalised with Covid-19.

“It is important to not forget about the mental health effects of long-Covid-19, while taking care of the physical symptoms, as they can be easily missed,” said Sehgal, who is also an instructor at Harvard Medical School.

The researchers called for further investigation into long-Covid, and the wider establishment of clinics to treat people with lingering, life-altering symptoms.

Sehgal said he hoped the research showed that simply surviving Covid-19 is not necessarily a satisfactory health outcome.

“Although preventing deaths remains the most important goal, it is also important to recognise the multi-organ morbidity of COVID-19,” he said.

“The medical needs of patients with COVID-19 don’t stop at the time of hospital discharge and they also don’t necessarily stop after three to four weeks.

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It was their turn to receive their vaccine jabs, the caller had informed them. So they flew to the US to be vaccinated.

How did that happen? I asked in incontrollable wonderment. Of course, America had details of every of her citizens and their ages. So when it was the turn of the age bracket of my friend’s parents-in-law, the system promptly rose to its responsibility.

After passing of bucks and all that, the vaccine eventually arrived Nigeria a few weeks ago. Distribution has promptly started to states of the federation. This is when and where you will see Nigeria in total unfolding and manifestation.

Our ancient corruptive, prebendal, as well as destructive nature and practice of allotting unfair preferential treatments to one person or group, at the expense of another, will begin to rear their ugly heads. Governors and government officials will deploy their “long legs” to get their families vaccinated ahead of essential components in the country; some of the drugs will be hoarded and deployed as political favours; officials will sell them at inflated prices to the highest bidders and if care is not taken, some of the drugs will get spoilt due to our sparse and fossilized spaces for storage.

When they say that we must kill corruption if we want to square up with the rest of the world, can you now see that it is not mere rhetoric?

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The state recorded 88 new cases and was followed by Lagos state which recorded 86 cases.

According to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in its daily update on Monday, February 8, 2021, a total of 643 new COVID-19 cases were recorded in 18 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

This development brought the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Nigeria to 140,391, while 114,635 patients have been discharged so far with 1,673 deaths recorded.

Other states with new cases include, Rivers-55, Edo-54, Akwa Ibom-53, Adamawa-52, Plateau-45, Kaduna-41, FCT-34, Kwara-27, Benue-20, Kano-19, Delta-18, Nasarawa-16, Niger-15, Bayelsa-11, Borno-5, Bauchi-2, and Sokoto-2.

NCDC also disclosed that they were 744 community recoveries in Lagos State, 100 in Rivers State, 78 in Plateau State, 72 in Kaduna State and 2 in Benue managed in line with guidelines.

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Germany recorded 465 deaths over the past 24 hours, the Robert Koch Institute for disease control said, raising the toll since the start of the pandemic to 40,343.

More than 1.9 million people have been infected so far, with almost 17,000 new cases added since Saturday.

In her weekly video message on Saturday, Merkel said the full impact of socialising over the Christmas and New Year’s period was yet to show up in the statistics.

She warned Germans that “these next winter weeks will be the hardest phase of the pandemic” so far, with many doctors and medical staff working at their limits.

Germany fared better than many other European countries during the first Covid-19 wave in the spring but it has been hit hard by the second wave.

The nation of 83 million people, the bloc’s most populous, has imposed another round of restrictions to limit social contacts and help hospitals cope with a surge in patients.

More than 5,000 Covid-19 patients are currently in intensive care nationwide, with over 80 percent of intensive care beds occupied.

Germany has closed schools and non-essential shops, culture and leisure facilities until at least January 31 in hope of slowing the outbreak.

Like other EU nations, it started vaccinating citizens against Covid-19 in late December using the Pfizer/BioNTech jab.

More than half a million people have received the jab so far.

A second vaccine, developed by US firm Moderna, will join the rollout in the coming days.

– ‘Absolutely necessary’ –

Merkel acknowledged the vaccine campaign had got off to a slow start, “but the tempo will pick up”, she said.

“What’s important is that we can say: we will have enough of the vaccine available for everyone in Germany,” she added.

“Month after month we will inoculate more people and eventually we will be able to offer the vaccine to anyone who wants it.”

Merkel said the vaccines allowed for “justified hope” that the world could conquer the pandemic.

But she urged Germans to stay patient and said she was “firmly convinced” the current tough curbs on public life are “absolutely necessary”.

A survey by the Kantar research group for Bild am Sonntag newspaper found that 56 percent of Germans agreed with the latest measures to stem the virus spread.

Another 25 percent of respondents said the restrictions did not go far enough.

Just 16 percent said the rules were too strict.

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They said the two-dose vaccine had no serious safety concerns and that the companies will apply for emergency use authorization from US regulators “within days.”

The announcement came as coronavirus cases are surging in the US and other parts of the world, and boosted hopes for an end to the pandemic that has upended life around the globe.

“The study results mark an important step in this historic eight-month journey to bring forward a vaccine capable of helping to end this devastating pandemic,” said Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla.

“With hundreds of thousands of people around the globe infected every day, we urgently need to get a safe and effective vaccine to the world,” he added.

Pfizer had said last week after a preliminary analysis that its product was more than 90 percent effective.

On Monday another biotech firm involved in the race to develop a vaccine, Moderna, said its own vaccine was 94.5 percent effective, according to a preliminary analysis.

Pfizer has previously said it expected to contact the US Food and Drug Administration to apply for an Emergency Use Authorization by the third week of November.

The FDA had imposed a requirement on Covid-19 vaccine makers of having at least two months of follow-up with volunteers after their second dose, taken 28 days after the first, in order to ensure the drugs are safe.

Moderna developed its vaccine along with the US National Institutes for Health.

Both vaccines use mRNA (messenger ribonucleic acid) technology to deliver genetic material to the body that makes human cells create a protein from the virus.

This trains the immune system to be ready to attack if it encounters SARS-CoV-2.

Other vaccines that are in late-stage trials, such as one being developed by Johnson & Johnson and another by Oxford University and AstraZeneca, use modified viruses to deliver genetic material for the same purpose.

No mRNA vaccines have ever been approved, but Anthony Fauci, the United States’ top infectious disease scientist, told AFP Tuesday the technology had now “established itself.”

-AFP

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The figure, as gathered accounted for roughly four per cent of the total US caseload over this period, with children aged 12-17 approximately twice as likely to be infected as those aged 5-11.

The rate of new cases rose steadily during the spring and then shot up over the summer, peaking on July 19 with an average weekly incidence of 37.9 per 100,000.

The new cases then plateaued for several weeks before declining in late August — though it appears they are now rising again towards summer levels.

The authors wrote that the data helped establish a baseline for monitoring trends of Covid-19 infection as some schools return to in-person learning now and in the coming months.

“School studies suggest that in-person learning can be safe in communities with low SARS-CoV-2 transmission rates, but might increase transmission risk in communities where transmission is already high,” they said.

The report provides more data for trends that were already known, such as that Hispanic and black minority groups are at heightened risk of developing severe Covid-19, as are children with underlying conditions.

Overall, 277,285 children were infected, 3,240 hospitalized (or 1.2 percent); 404 admitted to intensive care (0.1 percent); and 51 died (0.01 percent).

The real rates of hospitalization, intensive care admission and death are likely to be even lower in reality because the actual number of children infected was probably far higher and not recorded, given the number of asymptomatic cases.

Though the risk to children is relatively low, health experts are more worried about the onward transmission risk children could present to their parents or grandparents.

Children in the 5-11 group accounted for 101,503 cases and 20 deaths while those in the 12–17 group accounted for 175,782 cases and 31 deaths.

Chronic lung disease — which includes asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), for example — was the most prevalent underlying condition.

The rates of infection varied greatly from region to region and the authors emphasized that local authorities should closely monitor the situation to arrive at the best decision about in-person learning.

AFP

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A total of 600,523 deaths were recorded globally out of 14,233,355 cases, a count based on official data showed, including 205,065 deaths in Europe, the worst-affected continent.

The virus, according to AFP is spreading rapidly in Latin America, the region with the second-most recorded deaths; where 160,726 people have died.

The United States is the country with the most deaths with 140,103, followed by Brazil (78,772), Britain (45,273), Mexico (38,888) and Italy (35,042).

AFP also disclosed that the number of deaths linked to COVID-19 has doubled in just over two months, and more than 100,000 new deaths have been registered in the three weeks since June 28.

AFP

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