Intensive fumigation of the State House has begun , according to report .
Fumigation experts arrived at the Villa about 9 . 30 am to commence the exercise , which a source said would cover all the offices at the Presidential Villa .
Findings indicated that as of 11 . 15 am , the experts were already in the main building housing the office of the President , Major General Muhammadu Buhari ( retd . ) , the floors , corridors, and major pathways .
“ These people are not from Villa . They came from outside of the town ( Abuja city ). They are dressed in complete white overalls , masked and wear protective gears.
“ The dressing is similar to how the National Centre for Disease Control officials wear their protective gears” , an official informed The PUNCH .
Recall that human traffic in and out of the Villa was scaled down beginning from Tuesday in a bid to address the raging coronavirus pandemic that had also infected some top government officials.
The Federal Government has announced plans to ban inter – state travel and possibly close down motor parks as part of measures to curtail the spread of the Coronavirus .
Minister for Information and Culture , Lai Mohammed said this at an ongoing press briefing in Abuja .
The Special Assistant to the Lagos State Governor on Health , Dr Tunde Ajayi, has disclosed that six of the patients at the Infectious Disease Hospital have recovered .
Ajayi via his twitter handle , @ thetundeajai , said the patients would be discharged soon .
“ Six of our # COVID19 inpatients have recovered and will be discharged soon . There is something Lagos is doing right . Lagos takes the lead, ” he wrote .
According to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control , 51 cases were confirmed in the country as of 11 :25 pm on March 25 .
“ Out of the 51 confirmed cases, two have been discharged , while one death has been recorded. Lagos has 32 confirmed cases, ” the NCDC wrote on its website.
Also , the Lagos State Commissioner for Health , Prof . Akin Abayomi , at a briefing on Wednesday said the state was tracing over 2 , 000 contacts .
UPDATE !!!!# COVID 19 Lagos
6 of our # COVID 19 inpatients have recovered and will be discharged soon.
There ‘ s something Lagos is doing right . Lagos takes the lead .
There were insinuations that the Minister of Health , Dr Osagie Ehanire , had gone into self – isolation after possible contact with the Chief of Staff to the President , Abba Kyari.
The CoS had tested positive to COVID- 19 on Monday .
He had travelled to Germany via Egypt on March 7 , 2020 and was accompanied on the trip by the Executive Chairman of the Nigeria Electricity Regulation Commission , Prof . James Momoh, and the Minister of Power , Sale Mamman .
The national leadership of Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners said it had directed its employees to withdraw their services from fuel depots as part of efforts to curb the spread of COVID- 19 .
NARTO , in a statement , signed by its President , Alhaji Yusuf Othman , said it was concerned about the safety and health of all its employees , adding that it “ owes it a duty to take all necessary steps to minimise their exposure to the deadly virus . ”
It noted that the Federal Government has taken a number of measures to manage the identified cases of COVID- 19 and contain its spread.
The union said it would continue to monitor the trend of events “ as we also consider the safety and welfare of our employees who form the vulnerable and integral part of the downstream sector of the petroleum industry . ”
It said , “ In its determination to control the spread of the disease , the Federal Government has banned all public meetings of 50 persons and above in any one place.
“ In compliance with this directive , we have similarly directed all our employees (tanker drivers ) to keep away from the depots and stay at home with effect from Friday, March 27 , 2020 pending when the situation is brought under control .
“ This action is necessitated by the fact that our loading depots across the country are places of beehive of activities containing more than 500 persons at any one time . ”
NARTO assured its workers that it would stand by them at this critical moment “ as we equally implore them to be of good conduct and law -abiding. ”
“ Finally, we join millions of our country men and women in prayers against the continued proliferation of the disease throughout the world and , are confident in the capacity of our health institutions to address the challenges which COVID – 19 poses to our country and humanity as a whole , ” it added .
The World Bank Group has expressed its readiness to deploy about $ 150 bn over the next 15 months to stimulate economic recovery of countries affected by the Coronavirus pandemic .
The Coronavirus pandemic had led to unprecedented disruptions to global supply chains , sharp drop in global crude oil prices , turmoil in global stock and financial markets, lockdown of large swaths movements of persons in many countries , among others.
These outcomes have had severe consequences on households’ livelihoods and business activities, resulting from drop in global demand , declined consumer confidence and slowdown in production .
The World Bank Group President David Malpass in his remarks from the G20 Finance Ministers conference call on the COVID – 19 pandemic said these are difficult times for all, especially for the poorest and most vulnerable .
For the World Bank Group , he said the first goal is to provide prompt support during the crisis , based on a country’ s needs .
He noted that it was vital for governments of countries affected by the pandemic to shorten the time of recovery and create confidence that the recovery can be strong .
Malpass said the bank is currently restructuring existing projects in 23 countries .
Many of these projects restructurings, according to him , would be made through the use of contingent emergency response components .
He said the bank is also preparing projects in 49 countries through a new fast – track facility .
He said the final decisions on 16 out of these 49 country programmes would be made this week expected this week.
Beyond the severe health impact from the pandemic , we should expect a major recession of the global economy .
The World Bank boss said , “ We are working to provide a fast response , utilizing all our available instruments.
“ Countries need to move fast to boost health spending, strengthen social safety nets , support the private sector and counter financial- market disruption .
“ Countries will need to implement structural reforms to help shorten the time to recovery and create confidence that the recovery can be strong .
He added , “ For those countries that have excessive regulations, subsidies, licensing regimes , trade protection or litigiousness as obstacles , we will work with them to foster markets , choice and faster growth prospects during the recovery.
“ The resources to address the problems I ’ ve discussed are substantial . The World Bank Group , including International Finance Corporation and Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, could deploy as much as $ 150 bn over the next 15 months. ”
“ Our members are being exposed to the virus in their line of duty . We have just downed tools demanding protective clothing from the government , ” Zvakada told dpa.
“ The Zimbabwe Nurses Association also said that all nurses are withdrawing their services until their demands are met . ’’
These include allowances , protective clothing , and water for hospitals.
Zimbabwe has recorded three coronavirus cases and one death.
The ailing country’ s lack of preparedness has been exposed by the family of the deceased , prominent broadcaster Zororo Makamba .
According to the family , the hospital where the deceased was admitted had no running water and “we were told to bring our own ventilator and power socket . ”
Authorities in Sudan have ordered the release of thousands of prisoners to prevent the novel coronavirus from spreading in the country’ s jails , state media reported .
“ The first batch of prisoners from (a total of) 4 , 217 have been released from al – Hoda prison in the city of Omdurman , ” twin city of the capital Khartoum, official news agency SUNA reported .
It did not specify how many prisoners were released or the nature of their crimes .
Sudan , which has so far recorded one death out of three confirmed COVID- 19 cases, has declared a state of emergency and almost totally closed its borders .
Authorities imposed an indefinite night – time curfew from 8 pm to 6 am local time.
They have also announced the suspension of all inter – state bus services starting Thursday .
Sudan has also shuttered schools and universities across the country.
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board said it is reviewing the Closed Circuit Television footage of its centres nationwide to discover possible cases of examination misconduct during the 2020 Unified Tertiary Matriculations Examination .
The board said it would not hesitate to release more names of offenders after reviewing the CCTV footage .
It stated , “The Board has noticed a tremendous reduction in the incidence of impersonation and other forms of infractions .
“ However , the Board would review all the CCTV footage and other installed technical gadgets for possible examination misconduct .
“ As part of its tradition , the Board would not hesitate to withdraw the results of candidates found to have perpetrated any form of examination malpractice. ”
He said the move is part of ongoing -internal reforms to reposition the Service towards achieving its N8 . 5 tn tax target .
He said , “ The FIRS Board took this decision at its emergency meeting No . 2 . held on Friday , March 20 , 2020 , during which it also approved the retirement of all directors who have served for eight years and above as directors in the Service , in line with Para 10 . 1 ( a )( iii) of Human Resources Policy and Programmes of the FIRS statute. ”
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