Scientists have identified the various classes of people at high risks of getting infected with the raging coronavirus, which as at Wednesday morning has killed over 8000 people and infected close to 200,000 people in 167 countries.

A new Chinese study has revealed that people with blood group ‘A’ are most at risk than other blood groups,

According to the scientists, those with type ‘O’ blood group are more resistant to the virus than people belonging to any other blood groups.

For the research, the scientists took the blood samples of 2,000 patients affected with COVID-19 in Wuhan and Shenzhen. They then checked the blood group patterns of the affected people and compared them with the local population.

The study results suggested that individuals with blood group type ‘A’ are more prone to develop severe symptoms than people of any other group.

Another research on coronavirus shows that people with medical complications including hypertension and diabetes, are at high risk of getting the infection.

People with no underlying condition and a good immunity level can fight against coronavirus more effectively than those who already are suffering from some diseases.

One’s health is directly proportional to one’s immunity. When one is suffering from diabetes, not only the blood sugar level goes crazily up but insulin production gets compromised too. This gives rise to a complication called a weakened immune system which puts one at an increased risk of suffering from various conditions.

Also, diabetics have been found to have a slow blood flow compared to healthy humans.

This doesn’t entirely fulfil the nutrient need of the body. Notably, immune cells travel throughout the body through the circulatory system and poor blood flow means low availability of immune cells in the body to fight against harmful pathogens and substance.

Diabetics are already at high risk of getting complications including kidney failure, nerve damage, eye damage, skin condition, and cardiovascular ailments. So, getting another deadly infection like COVID-19 can raise their risk of dying.

Not only diabetics but people with an increased level of blood sugar also take longer to get recovered. For them, longer hospitalisation can become a common thing due to the slow healing process of their bodies.

As a diabetic, you must limit going to crowded places. Social distancing is a must. Also, check your blood sugar level daily as any symptom of COVID-19 can suddenly raise your blood sugar level. Do not ignore even a minor sign of the infection. Your compromised immune system makes it easier for the virus to thrive inside your body. You should eat healthy food, drink plenty of fluid and avoid dehydration.

How to boost your immunity:
Fruits and vegetables rich in Vitamin C such as orange, broccoli, mango, parsley, guava etc. can boost your immunity.

Vitamin C works because of its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Having enough of this vitamin on a daily basis can help you prevent or/and reduce the symptoms of respiratory infections like common cold and bronchitis.

Green tea
It contains a potent antioxidant called polyphenols that have immune-boosting effects. Also, its consumption can improve one’s brain function and regulate one’s weight. Even if you wish to reduce the risk of getting diabetes and heart diseases, green tea can be effective.

Yogurt
Yogurt is rich in probiotics, microorganisms that are known to be gut-friendly and strengthening the immune system. Eating yogurt every day can increase the level of good bacteria in your gut and can improve your first line of defence against pathogens. Notably, your gut flora constitutes 70 per cent of the immune system.

Source: PM News

The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has distanced itself from rumours that results of its 2020 UTME taken on Saturday, March 14 and Monday, March 16 had been cancelled.

Dr Fabian Benjamin, Head, Media and Information, while making clarification on Wednesday in Lagos, said such rumours are the handiwork of fraudsters and should be disregarded.

He described the rumours as wicked, malicious and misleading.

”JAMB wishes to reassure all candidates who have written this year’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) so far that it has not canceled any of its examination or results.

”All results that have been released so far are intact and therefore there is no need for any panic whatsoever.

”Results of the 469,000 candidates who wrote on Monday have been released and candidates are to check their results by typing ‘RESULT’ and sending to 55019 with their unique telephone numbers for their scores.

“They should not check their results on the internet as the portal had been shut, following attempt by some fraudsters to alter results of candidates.

”The board is already investigating the activities of these criminals and will not fail to take very drastic action against those that are behind this,” Benjamin said.

Benjamin also responded to complaints by some candidates and stakeholders that the board was deliberately posting candidates to centres far away from their areas of residence.

He said JAMB would not go beyond the carrying capacity of any centre all in a bid to fulfill the aspirations of candidates seeking to take the examination there.

“Let me simply clarify here that JAMB does not post candidates just anywhere.

“It is the candidates that chose their examination towns and once centres in that examination towns are filled, they are withdrawn from the net and candidates are then sent to other centres closest to such examination towns.

”It is not a deliberate act on our side,” he said.

Nigerian Pastor T.B. Joshua, on Tuesday, declared that coronavirus, which has caused worldwide panic will vanish before the end of March 2020.

“The noise of coronavirus would be silenced before the end of March 2020”, T.B Joshua said.

The cleric, however, warned that the effect will be felt worldwide throughout the rest of the year.

T.B. Joshua made the statements while answering several questions related to the coronavirus outbreak on his official Facebook Page.

He described the unprecedented situation as a “test of faith”, which Jesus Christ hinted at in his prayer that Simon Peter’s faith would not fail.

TB Joshua said he didn’t see anything to panic about as God’s promise for believers would be for them to overcome.

“Real faith thrives on a test. If there was nothing serious in the past to test our faith, here is something to test our faith in a unique way – a real situation”

“I say again, it is the remnants we are seeing. The real coronavirus is gone. But what the coronavirus has caused – economic backlash, fear – will linger until the end of the year,” he predicted.

TB Joshua also commented on the fear that has envelopes many nations due to coronavirus.

“Fear exposes the level of our relationship with God. Fear means we are not serving God with all our hearts. The opening of the eyes of our faith will be the silencing of our fears”, he added.

The management of the National Youth Service Corps Scheme has suspended the ongoing orientation exercise in all camps nationwide.

In a statement released by the scheme on Wednesday, it said the action was to curb the spread of coronavirus.

The statement also noted that corps members would now proceed to their places of primary assignment.

“Sequel to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic which led to the cancellation of the national sports festival, management of the National Youth Service Corps Scheme wishes to announce the suspension of the on-going orientation course for the 2020 Batch “A” stream 1 corps members,” the statement read.

“Therefore, the corps members shall be posted to commence their primary assignments forthwith, while they shall be invited back to the orientation camps when the situation improves, just like it happened a few years ago when the nation was confronted by the Ebola virus threat.

“Management wishes to state that no corps member or camp official has contracted the virus.”

Sunday Dare, the minister of youth and sports, had announced on Tuesday that President Muhammadu Buhari approved the immediate postponement of the national sports festival that was scheduled to hold in Edo from March 22 to April 1, 2020.

The president also barred public officials from embarking on trips to foreign countries.

The announcement followed the confirmation of the third case of COVID-19 in Nigeria on Tuesday.

The Nigerian government has banned its political appointees and civil servants from undertaking foreign trips because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Boss Mustapha, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, announced the measure on Tuesday night after the inaugural meeting of the Presidential Task Force on coronavirus.

However, the ban affects only 13 countries, where the virus is endemic.

The countries are China, Iran, South Korea, Germany, Italy, USA, UK, Switzerland, Norway, Netherlands, Spain, France and Japan.

Mustapha said the committee after its meeting concluded that all officials in the Ministries, Department and Agencies, including parastatals to stop all forms of travels out of the country for whatever reasons.

“We have decided to advise that all officials in the Ministries, Departments and Agencies including parastals, that government has ban all forms of travels out of the country for whatever reasons.

“Whether for meetings, bilateral, multilateral, conferences, seminars, workshops and any form of other ceremonies.

“And this ban will remain in place until further notice and until the situation of pandemic nature of the COVID-19 stops.

“By this notice, any prior approval to travel abroad on official assignment during this period is accordingly rescinded”, he said.

According to him, the committee has decided to urge the Federal Government to scale up the nation’s health emergency system to the highest level and put in measures to curb further spread of the disease.

The committee headed by the SGF also advised the citizens strongly in their own interest to cancel or postpone all non-essential travel abroad including business and vacation trips.

“This is especially so, especially when it comes to the countries known to be seriously affected by the COVID-19.

“Secondly, we urge anyone returning to Nigeria from any country to strictly self isolate for 14 days.

“And that all people returning from countries with high community transmission rate, especially countries that have recorded a thousand cumulative cases and above would be actively isolated for 14 days by the health authorities,” he said.

The nation’s chief scribe said that the Nigerian government was also in support of measures taken by the government of other countries, particularly high burden countries who have urged their citizens to stay home and avoid non-essential travels.

President Buhari last week set up the 14-man presidential task force to monitor the development of COVID-19 pandemic disease across the country and around the world.

Inaugurating the committee, Mr Mustapha said the composition of the task force would enable Nigeria in its multi-sectoral and intergovernmental approach to the national response.

Mustapha said the committee has six months to deliberate on the six terms of references given to it.

Among the six-point terms are strengthening the national response strategy, particularly in the areas of testing, containment and management of COVID-19, strengthen collaboration with all tiers of Government, private sector, Faith-Based Organisations, civil societies, donors and partners.

Mustapha announced the appointment of a national co-ordinator for the committee. He is Dr. Sani Aliyu, who was appointed by President Buhari.

Aliyu will manage the daily activities of the committee, in collaboration with existing institutions and structures, Mustapha said.

“The national coordinator will be responsible for cohesion and efficiency in the roles played by the different agencies, operating in the treatment of the national response strategy, ” he said.

Members of the task force committee, apart from the chairman, Boss Mustapha are Dr Osagie Ehanire, Minister of Health, Mr Geoffrey Onyeama, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Rauf Aregbesola, Minister of Interior, Mr Hadi Sirika, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Services.

Others are, Mr Adamu Adamu, Minister of Education, Alhaji Lai Muhammed, Minister of Information and Culture, Mr Adeleke Mamora, Minister of State, Health, Alhaji Sulaiman Adamu, Minister of Environment.

The other members are Mr Yusuf Bichi, Director-General, Department of State Services, Mr Chikwe Thekweazu, Director General, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and WHO Country Representative in Nigeria, Dr Wondimagegnehu Alemu.

Mustapha assured of the President’s commitment to supporting the committee in ensuring safety and wellbeing of all Nigerians.

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Tuesday, made a surprise appearance at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) to personally assess how the response team stationed at the Lagos air border are screening inbound passengers for the coronavirus.

At 3:30pm, the Governor arrived at the airport in company of some members of the State’s Executive Council.

Upon learning of Sanwo-Olu’s presence at the airport, the Director of Airport Operations, Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Captain Mukhtar Muye, and General Manager of Aeromedical Standards, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Dr. Wilfred Haggai, stepped out of their offices to receive the Governor, who is the Chief Incident Commander in the State.

The aviation personnel led the Governor and his entourage to the airport’s arrival lounge for an on-the-spot assessment of the techniques being used to screen inbound passengers by a combined team of airport officials and health workers.

It should be recalled that Lagos State Government deployed 30 healthcare workers to the airport to strengthen the effort against the virus.

Additional 30 personnel were recently added.

At the arrival gates, Sanwo-Olu watched how passengers were being screened by the airport officials, who also demonstrated measures put in place to isolate travellers that showed signs of illness.

Afterwards, the Governor was conducted round the testing stations and quarantine facilities built in the airport to manage travellers with infectious diseases.

Expressing satisfaction with the response measures, Sanwo-Olu said his visit to the airport was to have a first-hand experience of the screening process after Federal Government triggered advanced vetting of air passengers.

He said: “This is really a working visit to the Lagos airport, which is the biggest international border of the country in terms of number of passengers. We are here to personally ascertain how our officials are working in collaboration with airport authorities to isolate travellers with cases of infectious disease.

“It is no longer news that we have an index case of coronavirus, and as we speak now, we are conducting tests on a few others cases. What it means is that, we need to heighten our level of preparedness, monitoring and engagement. We are also here to encourage and motivate our teaming staff engaged in this difficult national assignment.”

Sanwo-Olu charged the airport workers not to relax the screening process, stressing that all travellers coming into the country, regardless of status or age, must be vetted.

He added that there must be no VIP passage for anyone at the airport, saying everyone must subject themselves to screening. He cautioned the response team against stigmatising any passenger, who may be showing signs of infection or ailment.

He said: “Since we are still being friendly about accommodating international travels, we need to keep up our gird and remain firm on the screening process at the airport. We need to ensure that we are not keeping our eyes away from anything. Everybody coming in through our air borders must be properly screened. Nobody must be spared from thorough screening.”

Sanwo-Olu said his Government remained committed towards the efforts being made to combat the ravaging coronavirus.

He said the State Government would not hesitate to make resources available to enhance the level of preparedness towards combating the ravaging virus.

An Indian national and staff of Onshore Construction Company, a mechanical, electrical and instrumentation contracting firm, handling project for Dangote Fertilisers, has been quarantined in Lagos.

In a statement Tuesday, the management of Dangote Industries Limited, reacted to a flash report of the suspected case of the personnel currently being kept in isolation at the Mainland Hospital, Yaba, Lagos.

“We will like to state that an Indian national who is a staff of Onshore Construction Company-a mechanical, electrical and instrumentation contracting firm that specializes in fertilizer construction reported at the Site clinic complaining of high temperature and fever.

“His complaint triggered our Protocols which necessitated further screening and isolation immediately.

“Mr. Akhil Kunyil, of the Health and Safety Environment of the Onshore Company reported the development to the management following which local authorities were contacted. The patient was immediately conveyed to the Lagos Mainland Hospital Center, where he is currently being isolated and undergoing tests.

“As an organisation we have taken the following stringent proactive measures across our entire group since mid- January 2020:

• Development of a comprehensive risk identification, control priotization and escalation plan.

• Identification and retention of a competent team of medical consultants

• Travel ban for all employees to/from high risk countries as per W.H.O publications of country exposures

• Travel tracking of all employees and contractors staff arriving/leaving Nigeria and obligations for completion of medical checks to validate health status

• Implementation of use of Thermal cameras across our various sites as well as infrared thermometers checking in smaller office locations

• Identification and creation where applicable of holding, isolation and quarantine areas

• Implementation of use of sanitizers across all locations: sites and offices

• Multiple and continuous awareness campaigns on preventative measures to be taken (both electronic and physical i.e. posters, public announcements)

The above measures are continually updated as the situation globally evolves and we will continue to do so. The welfare of our employees and the nation as a whole remains our utmost priority.

Nigeria has foreseen the economic problems that may come in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, and will explore all alternatives to protect her people, President Muhammadu Buhari has said.

The President spoke Tuesday at State House, Abuja, during a briefing session by the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC) led by Professor Doyin Salami.

With oil prices oscillating between 29 and 30 dollars in recent times, as opposed to the 57 dollars benchmark for year 2020 Budget, President Buhari said many variables, including production cost and political impact, determine oil prices, “and we will see how to survive fallen prices, as we already envisaged the problem.”

He explained that protecting the people from vagaries of international economic fortunes, and associated fallen prices of oil, is a priority of government, “and we will do our best to do so.”

Stressing the importance of education and healthcare, the President submitted that if people were adequately educated, “they won’t accept any form of mismanagement by leadership, nor would they allow themselves to be manipulated by those promoting ethnic and religious sentiments.”

He promised that inputs in agriculture, education and healthcare would continue as much as practicable.

In his briefing, Professor Salami, leading a team of PEAC members, painted sobering scenarios of what could happen to the Nigerian economy, if the Covid-19 pandemic lasted for too long.

These include; slower growth, as the supply and demand sides of global economy would be affected, uncertainty, which would erode confidence, governments acting unilaterally instead of cooperatively, further drop in oil prices, and lockdowns gaining grounds around the world.

There would also be oil glut, trade imbalance, drop in foreign reserves, and rise in unemployment.

Noting that many countries round the world may go into economic recession, the PEAC advocated hard work for Nigeria to keep its head above the waters.

Recommending, among others, a possible revision of the 2020 Budget, with priority spending on healthcare, reprioritization of expenditure on
infrastructure to focus on projects nearing completion with pro-poor effects, curtailing recurrent expenditure, mobilizing the private sector to strengthen health sector infrastructure, and boosting of government revenue, the PEAC stressed that the projections may seem dire, but the worst may be avoided with hard work and scrupulous implementation of policies.

Nigeria’s former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar has told the government of President Muhammadu Buhari to suspend the policy on stamp duty on all types of accounts temporarily due to the Coronavirus pandemic crippling economy of nations.

Atiku, in a statement on Tuesday said Nigeria must take decisive economic action to protect her people from the ravages of the Coronavirus.

“The coronavirus is raging in the world and not just ravaging human beings, it is also affecting economies. Nigeria is not an island onto itself, and we must take measures to protect the economic well being of our nation and people.
Every action that can be taken to ease the cost of doing business in Nigeria and reduce the cost of living, while promoting consumer confidence must be implemented.

“All hands must be on deck in a multi-partisan manner to ensure that Nigeria does not return to an economic recession. This is possible with decisive leadership and disciplined management.

“As such, I recommend that policies like the Stamp Duty on all types of accounts be temporarily suspended, until such a time as the nation’s economy has turned the tide in the fight against this virulent scourge,” he said.

Atiku also said the landing cost of Premium Motor Spirit, also known as petrol, had reduced significantly, saying it is strongly recommended that the government should not absorb the savings, but should pass it on to the Nigerian people by way of reducing the pump price of PMS to reflect the current prevailing market costs.

In addition to these measures, he urged the government to request large scale industrialists and employers of labour not to disengage workers.

“Definitely, this scourge will affect their production and profitability. However, if they know that the government is behind them and will do all to support them, they are less likely to disengage workers.

“These are extraordinary times, and we, as a nation, must take extraordinary measures to protect the entire nation. Nigeria is our collective home, as such, we must suppress every partisan disagreement and think and work patriotically to ensure our national survival amid global uncertainty,” he said.

People, who suspect they have caught the novel coronavirus, should not take the popular drug ibuprofen without consulting a doctor, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said.

WHO gave the warning, on Tuesday, pointing to the ongoing research into possible negative effects.

WHO’s spokesman, Christian Lindmeier, told a Geneva news conference that there are no recent studies that link the anti-inflammatory drug with increased mortality rates, but he added that experts are currently investigating the matter.

“We recommend paracetamol, not ibuprofen in self-medication,’’ Lindmeier said.

The UN agency’s comments came after leading French health officials warned against using nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) against the coronavirus disease.

This group of pharmaceuticals includes ibuprofen, aspirin and other drugs.

A recent article in the medical journal “The Lancet” put forward the hypothesis that some drugs including ibuprofen might pose a risk for COVID-19 patients, who also suffer from high blood pressure or diabetes.

Lindmeier also reported that two WHO staff members have been infected with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that causes COVID-19 respiratory disease.

Several hundred WHO staffers started working remotely from home on Tuesday.

The UN health agency no longer invites journalists to its premises to update them on the coronavirus pandemic but broadcasts its briefings on social media.

Source: https://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2020/03/17/coronavirus-we-recommend-paracetamol-not-ibuprofen-who/