The Australian city of Perth has begun a snap five-day lockdown after a security guard working at a quarantine hotel tested positive for coronavirus.
Western Australia – the state of which Perth is the capital – had not had a case of locally acquired coronavirus for 10 months.
The lockdown began at 18:00 (10:00 GMT) and runs until Friday night.
Schools, restaurants, bars, cinemas and gyms have been ordered to close.
Only essential travel is allowed and masks must be worn.
People in the city of two million – along with people living in the nearby Peel and South West regions – must stay at home, except for essential work, healthcare, food shopping or exercise, said Western Australia state Premier Mark McGowan.
A scheduled return of schools on Monday has also been delayed by a week.
“I know for many Western Australians this is going to come as a shock,” Mr McGowan said at a news conference. “We cannot forget how quickly this virus can spread, nor the devastation it can cause.
“Our model is to deal with it very, very quickly and harshly… so that we can bring it under control and not have community spread of the virus as you have seen in other countries around the world,” he added.
Mr McGowan said the guard may have the UK variant of the virus: “We are told the guard was working on the same floor as a positive UK variant case.” The guard and his family have been placed into quarantine at a state-run facility, he added.
Leaders of other states and territories have also been contacted and advised not to allow people to travel into the state.
Australia has recorded nearly 29,000 cases and 909 deaths since the pandemic began, for a populations of about 25 million – far fewer than many other countries.
In recent months in particular, the nation has taken swift and aggressive actions to contain outbreaks at their source, and it currently has a travel ban in place preventing residents from overseas travel.
It has now reopened the travel bubble with New Zealand. Travellers to Australia will be screened before and after flights for the next 10 days, but will no longer be required to enter quarantine.
Until the Perth case, Australia had not had any locally acquired infection for the past 14 days. Its only infections had been in returned overseas travellers in hotel quarantine.
On Thursday, Australia was ranked eighth in a list of nations which had responded best to the virus. New Zealand and Vietnam topped the list from the Lowy Institute think tank.
President Buhari’s son-in-law gets covid19 vaccine in Dubai. President Buhari’s son-in-law , Ahmed Indimi got his covid 19 vaccine in Dubai. He revealed this via his Instagram page with a picture of him getting vaccinated. He wrote,
Thousands of Russians have been taking part in unauthorised protests to demand the release of the jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
More than 1,000 people have been detained so far, local media say.
In Moscow police have closed metro stations and are restricting movement in the city centre. About 140 people have been detained there.
Mr Navalny was jailed on his return to Russia after recovering from an attempt to kill him with a nerve agent.
He is accused of not complying with a suspended sentence.
The opposition figure had only just arrived from Berlin, where he spent months recovering from the near-fatal attack.
Russian authorities say he was supposed to report to police regularly because of a suspended sentence for embezzlement.
Mr Navalny has denounced his detention as “blatantly illegal”, saying the authorities knew he was being treated in Berlin for the Novichok poisoning, which happened in Russia last August.
image captionPolice have restricted movement in central Moscow
Meanwhile Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied reports he is the owner of a vast palace on the Black Sea, as alleged by Mr Navalny in a video that has gone viral in Russia and has been watched more than 100m times.
In Moscow the BBC’s Sarah Rainsford says protesters played cat-and-mouse with police, getting up close to officers before retreating to safety. Police snatch squads pulled some protesters through the lines of riot shields. Footage showed a stream of people being escorted on to buses by riot police.
Mr Navalny’s wife Yulia Navalnaya is among those detained, Mr Navalny’s team says.
Police say the protests are illegal, while Russian authorities have warned that the demonstrations could spread the coronavirus.
A 40-year-old protester in Moscow told Reuters she had attended despite having a panic attack the night before over the possible repercussions she could face for taking part.
“I understand that I live in a totally lawless state. In a police state, with no independent courts. In a country ruled by corruption. I would like to live differently,” she said.
In St Petersburg, Mr Putin’s home city, a crowd gathered in a central square and chanted: “Down with the Tsar.”
image captionCrowds in St Petersburg chanted: “Down with the Tsar”
Rallies in support of Mr Navalny have already taken place in eastern Russia. In the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, at least 2,000 people marched through the city chanting “Freedom” and “Putin is a thief”.
Authorities in Indonesia’s Aceh province publicly flogged two gay men 77 times each on Thursday after a vigilante mob raided their apartment in November, allegedly caught them having sex, and handed them over to the police. The whipping—recognized as torture under international law—was punishment under the province’s Sharia (Islamic law) regulations, which forbid same-sex conduct.
The floggings are part of a longstanding pattern of targeted abuse by Acehnese authorities against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people.
In 2012, then-Banda Aceh deputy mayor Illiza Saaduddin announced a “special team” to make the public more aware of the “threat of LGBT,” posting an image of herself on Instagram holding a handgun and vowing to flush gays out of Aceh. In October 2015, special Sharia police arrested two women, ages 18 and 19, on suspicion of being lesbians for embracing in public, and detained them for three nights before sending them to religious “rehab.” An episode nearly identical to this week’s flogging happened in 2017 – including vigilantism, police involvement, prosecution under grossly discriminatory Sharia regulations, and public flogging.
The abuse also is part of a five-year anti-LGBT campaign driven by many of Indonesia’s national and local leaders with harmful rhetoric and repeated failure to punish abusers.
Aceh is the only one of Indonesia’s 34 provinces that can legally adopt bylaws derived from Sharia (though such provisions are spreading elsewhere in the country). Over the past decade, Aceh’s parliament has adopted Sharia-inspired ordinances that criminalize everything from non-hijab-wearing women, to drinking alcohol, to gambling, to extramarital sex. The province’s 2014 Criminal Code bars both male and female same-sex behavior.
And while the spectacle of public torture in Aceh is horrific, authorities across the country continue to lead or participate in arbitrary raids and arrests in private spaces. Increasingly, authorities are using a discriminatory pornography law as a weapon to target LGBT people. The crackdown has contributed to a major public health crisis: HIV rates among men who have sex with men were already spiking, and the attacks of the last five years have stoked fear and inhibited vital HIV prevention work.
The Indonesian government has made commitments in principle to protect LGBT people. But it seems President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s slogan of “unity in diversity” does not genuinely extend to protecting everyone – including the two men mercilessly flogged today.
The European Union recognised it “made a mistake” in triggering an emergency provision in the Brexit deal to control Covid vaccine exports, the Cabinet Office minister has said.
Michael Gove said he was “confident” of the UK’s vaccine supply and said its programme would continue as planned.
He said the UK was “on track” to deliver 15 million jabs by 15 February.
It comes after the EU reversed a decision which could have seen checks at the Irish border amid a vaccine row.
Mr Gove said he had spoken with European Commission vice-president Maroš Šefčovič and both had agreed “we need a reset” and to put the people of Northern Ireland first.
He said Prime Minister Boris Johnson had spoken to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and it was made clear that “supply would not be interrupted so we can proceed with our plans”.
On Friday, the EU said it would trigger Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol – which allows the EU and UK to choose to suspend any aspects they consider are causing “economic, societal or environmental difficulties” – before later reversing the decision following condemnation from London, Dublin and Belfast.
The Irish Republic’s foreign minister, Simon Coveney, said in a tweet the protocol was a “hard-won compromise” and was “not something to be tampered with lightly”.
The move came amid a deepening dispute over delays to the production and distribution of Covid vaccines across the EU.
One EU diplomat told BBC Europe editor Katya Adler they were not consulted on the move and would have said it was a “terrible idea”, while another described the EU’s vaccination programme as a “car crash in slow motion”.
After speaking with Mr Gove, Mr Šefčovič tweeted their shared priority was ensuring the protocol worked for the people of Northern Ireland, “protecting gains of the peace process and avoiding disruption to everyday lives”.
Mr Coveney said he had also spoken with the pair, as well as UK Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis. He said the protocol was there to “protect relationships, facilitate trade, avoid borders”.
France is imposing new Covid-19 border restrictions from Sunday, but has again resisted a new nationwide lockdown.
All but essential travel from outside the EU will be banned and testing requirements on travellers from within the EU will be tightened.
PM Jean Castex said France’s night curfew would be more tightly enforced and large shopping centres would close.
But the measures were seen as mild and favouring the economy. Some doctors fear they will not curb infections.
Prime Minister, Jean Castex, in Colmar, France – 23 Jan 2021
The new border restrictions will affect the UK, now no longer in the EU, but its transport minister clarified on Twitter that the change would not impact hauliers transporting goods to or from the UK.
Princess Shyngle has said she’s now married and her name has officially changed to Mrs Bala-Gaye. She shared footage of her man proposing to her and other clips showing them displaying massive PDA. She explained in the caption that they are already married and she’s officially a wife.
She wrote:
My crush since 8th grade even though you didn’t use to look my way back then the only man I ever hit on numerous times but I had no luck instead you choose to be my friend for over 10 years , little did either of us knew we were gonna end up together. Our real and genuine friendship brought us together and made our relationship and bound stronger than ever. I’m still taking it all in and I know all this would not have been possible without Allah. I’m blessed to be married to my childhood crush, my forever crush, my best friend, gossip partner and love of my life.. Mrs Bala-Gaye 4life. I’m officially a wife.
Only months ago, the Gambian actress broke off her engagement to her Senegalese boo, Frederic Badji.
Muyideen, who was paraded alongside Memudu by the Osun State Police Command on Friday, said the victims were children of his elder brother.
A 21-year-old undergraduate of the Osun State University, Usman Muyideen, has narrated how he kidnapped and killed two underage children with the help of a Fulani herdsman identified as Memudu.
Muyideen, who was paraded alongside Memudu by the Osun State Police Command on Friday, said the victims were children of his elder brother.
The 200 level student of Public Administration accused the herdsman of talking him into abducting them.
SaharaReporters gathered that the two children, Thompson Onibokun (13) and Samson Onibokun (12,) were kidnapped on January 26, 2021, on a football field around Iludun area, Osogbo.
“The herdsman talked me into kidnapping them. He is my friend. We have lived together since childhood,” Muyideen said.
“When we got to the field where Thompson and Samson were, I told them to follow me and they did because I am the younger brother of their daddy. We didn’t know that they would die.
“The police tracked the phones we used in contacting the parents and we were arrested.”
Also confessing to the crime, Memudu said, “I am a Fulani herdsman. I abducted two children with the help of Muyideen, who is their family member. We went to the football field where the children played and abducted them.
“We took them on a commercial bike to a forest where my cattle do feed around Coker area, Osogbo. I know the terrain very well. We were in the forest for four days, giving the children bread and soft drink.
“We contacted the parents and demanded N25 million ransom. I wanted to use the ransom to start a business. We gave them six days to provide the ransom but, unfortunately, the two children died on the fourth day after the rope we used to tie them to a tree strangulated them.
“When those children died, we did not contact the parents again. We left the corpses there and they discovered the bodies four days after.”
The state Commissioner of Police, Olawale Olokode, said the two children’s bodies had been recovered and deposited at University Teaching Hospital morgue, Osogbo for autopsy.
Police in Japan have arrested a woman after the body of her dead mother was discovered in a freezer in her flat.
Scene
Yumi Yoshino, 48, said that she found her mother dead and hid the body 10 years ago because she “didn’t want to move out” of the Tokyo home they shared, local media reported, citing unnamed police sources.
There were no visible wounds on the frozen body, police said.
The authorities could not determine the time and cause of the woman’s death.
The body was reportedly discovered by a cleaner after Ms Yoshino had been forced to leave the apartment due to missing rent payments.
The body had been bent to the fit in the freezer, police said.
Ms Yoshino was arrested in a hotel in the city of Chiba, near Tokyo, on Friday.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Friday, January 29, arrested 10 suspects over computer-related fraud known as ‘Yahoo-Yahoo’
A statement released by the antigraft agency states that the suspects were arrested at their Academy in Bwari axis of Abuja where they were said to be learning the trade of cyber trickery.
The suspects aged between 20 and 30 years, were identified as Sixtus Jude, Moses Samuel, Isalan Johnny, Dapet Nimshak, Samuel Ogboche, Victor Samuel, Victor Asuquo, Ibrahim Yunusa, Yahaya Usman and Chijoke Ikwuoha.
They were arrested with different incriminating items such as mobile phones and computers.The promoter of the Academy is however on the run. Investigations showed that the sponsor recruits and train young individuals who show interest in internet fraud.
The sponsor gets his percentage of their earnings based on an agreement between him and the recruits. He also serves as a conduit for laundering the money gotten from internet fraud by some of the suspects. The suspects will be prosecuted when investigation is completed.
A Dutch appeals court has ruled that the Nigerian branch of oil giant Shell is responsible for damage caused by leaks in the Niger Delta.
The court ordered Shell Nigeria to pay compensation to Nigerian farmers, while the subsidiary and its Anglo-Dutch parent company were told to install equipment to prevent future damage.
A group of farmers launched the case in 2008, alleging widespread pollution.
Shell says the leaks were the result of “sabotage”.
In a statement on Friday, Royal Dutch Shell said it was “disappointed” with the verdict.
The ruling can be appealed against.
The judgment could have implications beyond Nigeria, in terms of corporate responsibility and the duty of care multinationals have to the people in the places where they operate, reports the BBC’s Anna Holligan from The Hague.
While the oil spills in this case happened from 2004 to 2007, pollution from leaking pipelines continues to be a major issue in the Niger Delta.
The court said Shell had not proven “beyond reasonable doubt” that saboteurs were responsible for the leaks affecting the villages of Goi and Oruma, rather than poor maintenance.
“This makes Shell Nigeria responsible for the damage caused by the leaks” in these areas, it said. It added that the amount of compensation would be “determined at a later stage”.
The court found that a leak in Ikot Ada Udo village was a result of sabotage, but said it needed more time to resolve the case.
The four farmers who launched the case – Barizaa Dooh, Elder Friday Alfred Akpan, Chief Fidelis A Oguru and Alali Efanga – said the leaks from underground oil pipelines had cost them their livelihoods by contaminating land and waterways. Mr Efanga and Mr Dooh have died since the case was first filed in 2008 so their sons pursued the case instead.
“I’m very happy – the common man in Nigeria now has hope,” Princewill Efanga told the BBC.
James Oguru, son of Chief Oguru, said “justice had prevailed” but urged Shell to “do the necessary” so they could start farming again.
The farmers were backed by environmental group Friends of the Earth.
“Tears of joy here. After 13 years, we’ve won,” the group’s Dutch branch tweeted following the ruling.
This is the first time individual farmers who have had their sources of livelihood taken away by the environmental destruction in the Niger Delta hope to get justice.
It is being received with excitement among environmental activists, as it may open a floodgate of more litigation against Shell and other corporations involved in oil exploration in the region.
Kentebbe Ebiarido, who represents some of the farmers, said people in the area had been “cheated environmentally and economically” and that no matter how much the multinationals had misbehaved in the past, the communities now have hope.
For many years, Shell has been accused of being responsible for the contamination of the region through leaks from oil exploration – allegations it has always denied.
There have been settlements in the past. But in those instances – like in 2005 when Shell agreed to an $84m (£60m) deal for fishermen in the Bodo community – thousands of residents of the Niger Delta were lumped together. When such settlements eventually got to each of them, it did not amount to much.
But this time, even though no-one knows what the compensation will be, there is little doubt that it will different to before.
Twitter user shares story of how a doctor forgot a knife in his body , during a surgery.
Twitter user shares a true life story of how a doctor forgot a knife in his body , during a surgery. He wrote;
Many been asking why I have not been active, okay here’s my story, and it’s a THREAD. Read slowly
November last year I got stabbed, most of my followers where aware of this, “it is not dat deep” say the doctor that stitched me up that night. ?
But after the stabbing incident, my health went from 100-10. I fall ill every 2wks from one medication to another no proper improvement, so we had to go see our family doc, who advised us to go for an X-ray after carrying out some checkup on me, low and behold ??. “ A knife “
A knife inside my chest?? How come? Shebi that doctor that stitched me up said the wounds weren’t that deep and I was very lucky? So Where the knife pass enter my body go digest for my chest??. To make things worst family doc said the only way out was an operation. My hrt skip ?
Before my heart resume kicking again, I dun already land for benin “UBTH” to be precise, my parents no even allow me breath digest the operation gist. UBTH doctors too sef no get chill, I just come dem no even give me coke to take relax my mind, dem begin take my blood upTo cut the story short. The operation was carried out,and it was a success. All happened like a dream that Tuesday evening, from rolling me out from the emergency unit to the theatre and sleeping off like a baby only for me to wake up that it was done. Omo! I breath reach ground .
Here’s the knife that was removed. So I ask myself, what would have happened if I had not travel home to see our family doctor? I for dey Lagos dey treat typhoid & fever whereas I was dying slowly. GOD truly works in a miraculous way. ??♂️
Omo henceforth I’m now a born again o, Jonah no see pass like this before e repent. My brothers & sisters, God dey heaven and he watches over his own. Abeg Repent. ???
Not to take anything away from the doctors that carried out the operation, they really did their maximum for me, professionals wey sabi work. God bless all UBTH professionals ❤️??
He was said to have crashed his motorcycle when trying to avoid a pothole on Thursday at Sawmill area, on Ilero Road.
A leader of the Western Nigeria Security Network, popularly known as Amotekun, in the Kajola Local Government Area of Oyo State, Tajudeen Salaudeen, has reportedly been killed in an accident.
He was said to have crashed his motorcycle when trying to avoid a pothole on Thursday at Sawmill area, on Ilero Road.
According to Vanguard, the deceased was going to Okeho in the early hours of Thursday when he got a call to return for an emergency assignment at Ilero.
While making a U-turn, his bike reportedly skidded off the bad road and he fell off the bike.
His body was first deposited at a private hospital morgue in Ilero, Iwajowa Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Kajola, before he was later buried.
A daycare owner has been charged following the death of a two-year-old girl who mysteriously died in her care 5 months ago. The 2-year-old isn’t the first child to die in the woman’s care but a reflection on the TV led to her arrest.
Kaylee Thomas’s death at the home of Jessica Anne Cherry on August 18, 2020 had been ruled indeterminate; but on Tuesday, Jan 26, the Chief Medical Examiner finally declared it a homicide, leading detectives to immediately arrest and charge the 37-year-old with second degree murder.
After the toddler died, police obtained a search warrant and discovered a Ring camera inside the daycare had been moved so that it faced a television screen..but upon closer inspection, prosecutors claimed they could see several disturbing instances of abuse of other children the week before, caught in the screen’s reflection.
Police said they could make out Cherry covering an infant’s nose and mouth tightly with a cloth, and then abandoning him alone in a room.
In another instance, they said they saw Cherry slapping an infant. Audio of the child crying in pain could be heard in the court when the video was played during a bond hearing.
Cherry
As a result, Cherry was charged with two counts of gross wanton or reckless care for a child, two counts of endangerment cruelty or injuries to children, stab/cut wounds with malicious intent and attempted malicious wounding, but faced no charges in the death of Kaylee.
It also emerged during the hearing , that Kaylee wasn’t the first child to die in Cherry’s care that year. The prosecutor mentioned she was being investigated after a one-year-old boy was found unresponsive at her home on January 16, 2020. He died at hospital four days later. The cause and manner of the boy’s death have not been revealed and no one has been charged.
FG contemplates lockdown in hotspot local governments in Lagos, Abuja and others.
The Federal Government has announced that it is contemplating a targeted lockdown in hotspot local governments in Lagos, Abuja, Kaduna and major cities in the country.
National Incident Manager of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Dr Mukhtar Muhammad disclosed this while appearing on a Channels Television Programme on Friday January 29.
Muhammad said they noticed the most affected places are urban areas and the restriction will be in those places.
He said; “Certainly, even if we are going to have a lockdown, it is not going to be a total lockdown. A couple of weeks back, we analysed the data and we identified the hotspot local government areas.
“Mostly, the areas affected are the urban local governments in Lagos, Abuja, Kaduna, Plateau. Even in most other states, it is the urban areas that are involved. So, if we are going to have any restrictions, it will be in these areas.
“The urban areas are the most affected and that is why we have these superspreaders and that is where we are going to target. We have analysed that and we are advising the states based on the data that these are the focused areas where these transmissions are more than the others.”
Nearly seven years after Boko Haram militants snatched them from their dormitory beds in the northeast Nigerian town of Chibok, more of the missing schoolgirls are said to be returning home.
Emmanuel Ogebe, a Nigerian human rights lawyer who practices in the United States and has previously worked with some of the freed girls and their families, said a parent told him that his daughter and others have escaped their captors.
“Mr. Ali Maiyanga’s two daughters were part of the few Muslim schoolgirls taken with the majority Christian Chibok girls. Information currently available to us indicates that there are other escapees with the army whom parents are anxiously waiting to identify,” Ogebe said in a statement to ABC News late Thursday. “We spoke and confirmed from Mr. Ali Maiyanga moments ago that he in fact spoke with his daughter today, who informed him that she along with others were rescued. Her sister who escaped four years ago and is on school break was overjoyed at the news of her sibling’s escape.”MORE: 344 Nigerian schoolboys freed days after being abducted, official says
Lawal Zannah, secretary of the Chibok Parents Association whose daughter was among those abducted, also confirmed the news.
“We heard that some of our girls have escaped from the forest, but we are yet to get the detail about their number,” Zannah told reporters Thursday evening.
Another parent, Malam Madu Mutta, said the Chibok community is anxiously awaiting the girls’ arrival.
“We were told they are currently with the security operatives. We are yet to know the numbers, but we are happy that some of them escaped,” Mutta told reporters Friday. “So many other parents and relatives are coming from Chibok with hopes of meeting their daughters. Again, hope is risen that we can have some of them back again.”
In April 2014, members of the jihadist group Boko Haram ambushed an all-girls boarding school in Chibok in the middle of the night and kidnapped 276 students before vanishing into the forest. Some of the girls managed to escape on their own, while others were later rescued or freed following negotiations. But the fate of many has remained unknown.
Boko Haram, whose name in the local Hausa language roughly translates to “Western education is forbidden,” has waged a brutal insurgency in northeastern Nigeria since 2009. The group seeks to establish an Islamic state there, though it has spread its terror across the region’s mountainous borders over the years into Niger, Chad and Cameroon, all of which surround the Lake Chad Basin, where millions have been affected by the violence, according to the United Nations.
Boko Haram pledged allegiance to ISIS in 2015. Its leader, Abubakar Shekau, and several commanders split from the group in 2016 over ideological differences and formed their own faction.
Former President of the United States of America, Donald Trump has insisted that he is going to remain in politics as Republicans begin charting a turbulent future without a clear head of the party.
Trump has declared that he can propel his party to victory in next year’s congressional midterm elections adding that he has agreed to work with Leader McCarthy on helping the Republican Party to become a majority in the House.
“President Trump’s popularity has never been stronger than it is today, and his endorsement means more than perhaps any endorsement at any time,” read a statement sent out by Trump’s Save America political action committee following a meeting Thursday with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy
“President Trump has agreed to work with Leader McCarthy on helping the Republican Party to become a majority in the House,” the statement continued.
Trump’s comments came days after an article of impeachment against him was presented to the Senate for his (Trump’s) trial on accusations of inciting the deadly January 6 attack on Capitol Hill.
The article of impeachment was delivered on Monday by members of the House of Representatives thus setting the tone for Senate trial against the former United States president, which is expected to start next month.
Pioneering Hollywood actress Cicely Tyson – who was known for portraying strong African-American characters – has died aged 96, her manager has said.
No cause of the death was given. The former fashion model had a career that spanned seven decades.
Tyson won two Emmys for her performance in the 1974 civil rights-era film The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman.
She also became the first black woman to take on a main role in the TV drama East Side/West Side in the 1960s.
Presenting Tyson with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016, the then US President Barack Obama said that apart from her achievements as a actress, she had also shaped the course of history.
Cicely Tyson turned down stereotypical roles for black women, agreeing only to play characters that were strong, positive and realistic.
COVID-19 protocol defaulters risk jail as Buhari signs regulations.
President Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday, signed Coronavirus (COVID-19) Health Protection Regulations 2021 as part of efforts to boost the COVID-19 response in the country.
The introduction of the Regulations is a welcome development, according to Nigerian Medical Association and other stakeholders in the health sector.
Buhari said the regulations, which would take immediate effect, were given urgent consideration to safeguard the health and ensure the well-being of Nigerians, especially in the face of rising COVID-19 cases in the country.
• NMA, others welcome guidelines • Urge pharmacies to moderate costs of preventive items
The guidelines state that any person that contravened provisions of the regulations commits, upon conviction, risked a fine or a term of six months imprisonment or both in accordance with Section 5 of the Quarantine Act.
The President directed the Nigeria Police Force, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Federal Road Safety Corps, Nigeria Immigration Service, Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, and other relevant local government, state and Federal governments’ agencies to enforce the regulations, warning that any officer that failed, neglected, or refused to enforce the provisions of the regulations would be subjected to disciplinary actions.
“Any person who, without reasonable cause, contravenes a direction given under Parts 1 and 2 of these regulations commits an offence. Any person who, without reasonable cause, obstructs an authorised official from enforcement of these regulations commits an offence,” the document states.
According the regulations, persons confirmed positive for COVID-19 by an NCDC accredited laboratory, may not refuse isolation and or admission to a designated health establishment for management of the disease.
The regulations also state that physical distance of no less two metres shall be maintained at all gatherings between persons and no gathering of more than 50 persons shall hold in an enclosed space, except for religious purposes, in which case the gathering shall not exceed 50 per cent capacity of the space.
It also stipulates that all persons in public gatherings, whether in enclosed or open spaces, shall adhere to the provisions of the regulations, which may be varied by guidelines and protocols as may be issued, from time to time, by the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 on the recommendation of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). Others are that no person should be allowed within the premises of a market, mall, supermarket, shop, restaurants, hotels, event centres, gardens, leisure parks, recreation centres, motor parks, fitness centres or any other similar establishment (hereinafter collectively referred to as “establishments”) except he wears a face covering that covers the nose and mouth, washes his hands or clean the hands, using hand sanitiser approved by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and his body temperature checked.
It reads, “Any person found to have body temperature above 38 degrees Celsius shall be denied entry and advised to immediately seek medical attention. Every establishment occupier shall make provision for regular hand hygiene for any person coming into the premises during opening hours. This includes a hand-washing station with soap and running water, or hand sanitiser approved by NAFDAC.
REGARDING places of worship, the regulation states that all worshippers and users of places of worship shall comply with the provisions of Parts 1 and 2 of the Regulations and should, where and whenever possible, avoid sharing worship items such as mats, bottles, and hymnal materials, among others.
“It is the responsibility of the person in charge of a place of worship to ensure compliance with the provisions of these Regulations within the worship centre,” the Regulations states.
In workplaces and schools, all persons are also required to comply with the provisions of Parts 1 and 2 of the Regulations.
The Regulations add that it is the responsibility of the person in charge of a workplace or a school to ensure compliance with the provisions of the Regulations. On banks it stipulates: “All employees, customers and visitors of banks shall comply with the provisions of Parts 1 and 2 of the Regulations. All banks shall comply with the guidelines, mode and scope of operations issued by the Central Bank and Federal Ministry of Finance as it relates to the COVID-19 response. All banks shall develop a schedule for regular cleaning of buttons and surfaces of Mantrap Entrance Doors, ATM machines and other commonly used areas.”
All operators and passengers of public transportation vehicles (referred to as operators), shall comply with the provisions of Part 2 of these Regulations and ensure adequate spacing in between passengers.
Operators in the transport sector, according to the Regulations, shall ensure frequent cleaning and disinfection of parts of the vehicle frequently handled by passengers and drivers such as doors and window handles/buttons, steering wheels and dashboards.
Managers of hostels, boarding houses, nursing homes, correctional centres, remand homes, holding cells, military detention facilities, and other similar centres centres are required to ensure compliance with the provisions of the regulations.
It asked managers of such facilities to ensure that suspected cases of COVID-19 are promptly and appropriately separated from others and are reported to medical officers of the state ministry of health for necessary action.
It asks state governors to issue regulations on further steps as may be considered necessary.
PRESIDENT, Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Prof. Innocent Ujah, told The Guardian the President took a necessary step towards checking the spread of COVID-19. “We thank Mr. President for this Law on COVID-19 and compliance with the NCDC Protocol. Enforcement of the provision of the Law will be tested for compliance.”
Similarly, the President, African Fertility Society (AFS), Joint Pioneer IVF in Nigeria and Medical Director of Medical Art Centre (MART), Lagos, Prof. Oladapo Ashiru, described the Regulations as a welcome development.
He said it would ensure proper use of face mask and social distancing and reduce infection transmission.
“It should give a downward slope to number of infected cases and death. It would have been nice if the government added the recommendation of immune boosters and other preventive prophylaxis such as Vit D, Zinc, and Ivermectin.
“Furthermore, there is need to plead with pharmaceutical shops not to over price such preventive drugs and masks. If possible, such drugs should be made available in all local government primary health care clinics, doctors clinics, and hospitals.”
A public health physician, member of Lagos State COVID-19 team and former Chief Medical Director, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Prof. Akin Osibogun, said: “This is a step in the right direction.”
*Please take note and wear your nose mask wherever you are going *
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