That a person is showing only mild symptoms doesn't mean all is well yet. A "healthy" teenager died from suspected coronavirus after being told he had "nothing to worry about".
Luca Di Nicola, 19, worked as a chef at a family restaurant in Enfield, North London, before contracting Covid-19.
Originally from east Italy, Luca, died at the North Middlesex Hospital in London.
His family described him as "very healthy", although he did visit a GP with coronavirus symptoms before he died.
Speaking to Italian news outlet La Repubblica, Luca's auntie said: "For a week before his death Luca had a fever and a cough and my sister-in-law Clarissa and her partner Vincenzo who lived in the same house also had it.
"The London-based doctor gave my nephew some paracetamol.
"But Luca got worse on March 23.
"The doctor visited him at home and told him that he was young, strong and that he didn't have to worry about that bad flu."
However, Luca's condition worsened when he collapsed after complaining of chest pains.
Family members called an ambulance, and paramedics managed to revive him, but his lungs collapsed.
Now there are fears that Luca's mum Clarissa and Vincenzo may have the disease after showing similar symptoms. They have been told to self-isolate for two weeks.
A "healthy" teenager died from suspected coronavirus after being told he had "nothing to worry about".
Luca Di Nicola, 19, worked as a chef at a family restaurant in Enfield, North London, before contracting Covid-19.
Originally from east Italy, Luca, died at the North Middlesex Hospital in London.
His family described him as "very healthy", although he did visit a GP with coronavirus symptoms before he died.
Speaking to Italian news outlet La Repubblica, Luca's auntie said: "For a week before his death Luca had a fever and a cough and my sister-in-law Clarissa and her partner Vincenzo who lived in the same house also had it.
"The London-based doctor gave my nephew some paracetamol.
"But Luca got worse on March 23.
"The doctor visited him at home and told him that he was young, strong and that he didn't have to worry about that bad flu."
However, Luca's condition worsened when he collapsed after complaining of chest pains.
Family members called an ambulance, and paramedics managed to revive him, but his lungs collapsed.
There are now fears that Luca's mum Clarissa and Vincenzo may have the disease after showing similar symptoms.
They have been told to self-isolate for two weeks.
Italy continues to be Europe's worst affected country for coronavirus, with almost 11,000 deaths.
The country has recorded more than 92,000 cases of Covid-19, with 919 dying in a single day on Friday, Italy's largest daily toll.
Police personnel attached to the Lagos State Rapid Response Squad, on Tuesday, dispersed some youths playing football on roads in the state.
The Commander of the RRS, Olatunji Disu, said the unit visited various places across the state to enforce the lockdown order.
According to him, Maryland, Ojota, Ketu, Mile 12, Owode-Onirin, Majidun, Ogolonto, Agric, Ikorodu, Ojodu-Berger and Magodo areas of the state recorded total compliance.
Disu stated that some youths found playing football on the Ikosi Road and in the Majidun area were enlightened on the importance of social distancing and were later dispersed.
He said, “After the briefing today (Tuesday) of the police and the Nigerian Army Officers by the Commissioner of Police, Mr Hakeem Odumosu, of the contingent of police and army officers on the enforcement of the directive of Mr President shutting down Lagos, a team of RRS officers fanned out to different parts of the metropolis.
“Some youths, who barricaded the roads and were playing football, were advised on the need to observe social distancing, imbibe the culture of regular hand-washing to stop the spread of COVID-19 and were urged to go back to their houses.”
The United Nations has released $2m to the Nigerian Government to procure essential medical supplies to help contain the COVID-19 outbreak in the country.
The UN Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Edward Kallon, disclosed this at a national conference in Abuja on the COVID-19 crisis. The Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, said the Federal Government would ensure resources were deployed to where they are needed most.
Cyber security company, SophosLabs has revealed that email scams associated with coronavirus, COVID-19 have nearly tripled in the past weeks.
According to Uncut blog, the scammers are using domain names like spam, phishing attacks, and malware to attack people’s devices. For instance, the criminals are using different means such as fake shipping and delivery emails to convince unsuspecting victims into opening attachments and infecting their computers with the Kryptik Trojan.
The report revealed that attackers are increasingly impersonating the World Health Organization, WHO, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, North America and the United Nations, UN, as evidenced in scams tracked by SophosLabs.
Speaking on the development, Sophos Principal Research Scientist, Chester Wisniewski, said: “Cybercriminals are wasting no time in shifting their dirty, tried and true attack campaigns toward advantageous lures that prey on mounting virus fears. It’s easy to see, for example, that the attackers behind a new Chloroquine scam are the same as those behind a recent herbal Viagra scam”.
Wisniewski emphasised that “With global spam volumes estimated to be in the hundreds of billions, for 2-3 percent of those to be COVID-19 themed is significant. Similar to A/B testing of advertisements and web pages, criminals often dip a toe in the water when there is a new or sensational topic in the news. If the new topic proves a more effective lure than the previous scam bait they begin switching to new lures.
“In fact, in one of the spam campaigns we tracked this week, there was evidence of exactly that. These particular criminals had been using fake shipping and delivery emails to convince unsuspecting victims into opening attachments and infecting their computers with the Kryptik Trojan. Now the main body of the email pretends to come from erecruit@who.int with “health advice” in the attachment, but when we carefully inspect the plain text body, we see it matches a previous spam campaign from this same criminal using a lure pretending to be about invoices and deliveries.
“The increases we are seeing are likely due to two important factors. First, as time passes more and more criminal groups are joining the party on using all this interest in COVID-19 to steal money from people. Secondly, it takes time. Any given criminal group has to handcraft the spams to convince the recipient to take an action. In the research community we call this the call to action. The call to action might be to open the attachment, visit the website or, in the case of the WHO Bitcoin scam (attached), to donate cryptocurrencies to criminal controlled Bitcoin wallets. Crafting these messages takes time, especially for those who are not native English speakers.
“Even the most innocuous mention of something by a politician or a celebrity can lend to a scam credibility or present a new business opportunity. Two recent examples come to mind. One spam campaign offering to tell you about the government cover up and attempting to sell you a COVID-19 survival guide used celebrity Gwyneth Paltrow as a lure in its subject line. A tipoff the email is a fake is the incorrect spelling of her first name as Gwenith, but this could easily be missed or glossed over.
“A few days ago President Donald Trump mentioned the possible efficacy of a drug called Chloroquine against Coronavirus immediately leading to WordPress blog comment spammers switching from pitching herbal Viagra to attempting to sell Chloroquine, which can be quite dangerous when not taken under the supervision of a doctor. And within only two days of the WHO creating a charity called the Solidarity Response Fund, criminals were soliciting Bitcoin donations pretending to be the charity, even implying your donation is fully tax deductible in the US or Europe,” he remarked.
The governor of New York state on Tuesday said officials had “underestimated” the coronavirus and needed to prepare for the apex of the outbreak.
“I’m tired of being behind this virus. We’ve been behind this virus from day one,” Andrew Cuomo told a news briefing.
“We underestimated this virus. It’s more powerful, it’s more dangerous than we expected.”
Coronavirus cases surged to 75,795 in New York, while the death toll jumped nearly 30 per cent overnight to 1,550, Cuomo said, warning that the state was “still headed up the mountain.”
The new cases mean New York has surpassed China’s Hubei province which reported 67,801 cases since the virus emerged there in December, according to John Hopkins University data.
The New York governor also said his brother, CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, had tested positive for coronavirus.
“He’s going to be quarantined in his basement at home,” Cuomo said of his brother, after calling the virus a “great equaliser”.
The governor said the health care system was “dealing with a war we’ve never dealt with before,” and that doctors and nurses were facing “immense physical and emotional stress.”
The lights of New York City’s Empire State Building began shining red on Monday to honour “emergency workers on the front line of the fight” against the virus, according to a post from the iconic building’s Twitter account.
In the U.S., there have been more than 3,400 deaths and some 165,900 confirmed coronavirus cases, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities says it ordered its members, who are lecturers across universities, to embark on strike during the coronavirus pandemic because there would never be a time approved for such an action.
The President, Academic Staff Union of Universities, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, on Tuesday, also inaugurated ASUU COVID-19 intervention in an effort to sensitise the public and check the spread of the dreaded virus at the University of Ibadan.
The intervention materials, produced by the UI branch of ASUU, comprised about 1,000 100ml of hand sanitisers. The programme included sensitisation campaign, via jingles in Pidgin and English languages; posters in three languages and hand gloves.
Ogunyemi, who was represented on the occasion by the coordinator of ASUU, UI zone, Prof. Ade Adejumo, said, “We cannot confront the challenge by bemoaning our fate. What is expected is that we join forces to do what China and other well-organised societies have done to flatten the curve.
“ASUU acknowledges that public information, education and communication are key. To demonstrate our concerns for the welfare and well-being of the Nigerian people, ASUU members nationwide shall be willing to work with medical and paramedical workers as volunteers in their public enlightenment and professional intervention initiatives.
“All branches shall explore areas of strategic collaboration with federal, state and local governments to provide support in terms of information and expert skills drawn from our members across the nation. For us in ASUU, this is not an occasion for blame game or buck passing. However, it calls for sober reflection on what we need to do differently with our health and education.”
Ogunyemi said the coronavirus crisis had exposed the country’s “naked and empty teaching hospitals” which justified its industrial action to demand revitalisation funds for public universities.
He, however, said the union would be willing to serve as volunteers nationwide in the coronavirus crisis to work with the medical and paramedical workers involved in tackling the scourge.
He said, “With qualitative and accessible university education, we can guarantee a storehouse of knowledge in scientists, doctors, nurses, laboratory technologists and other medical and paramedical personnel for coping with a global pandemic such as COVID-19. But it appears our universities have no place in the current efforts of government.
“See, for instance, how naked and empty our teaching hospitals turned out to be when threatened by the early wave of COVID-19. Yet, these are laboratories established to produce medical and paramedical personnel for our country.”
The Chairman, ASUU, UI, Prof. Ayo Akinwole, said despite being owed two months’ salary, the union would not abandon its people.
He said the intervention materials would be distributed to the University College Hospital, the Nigerian Union of Journalists, the university health centre and the Oyo State Ministry of Health.
Akinwole said, “It is not surprising that our health facilities were not equipped and staffed to respond to emergencies such as the Coronavirus pandemic. All kits donated by Chinese billionaire, Jack Ma Foundation, must be distributed to medical centres to conduct more tests.
The Commissioner for Health in Ogun State, Dr Tomi Coker, has warned mothers to desist from giving their children sanitisers to drink as a way of combating coronavirus.
Coker, who gave this warning said this on Tuesday during a press briefing on the update of cases of COVID-19, described the development in the state as a myth.
The commissioner said she had discovered that many mothers in the state had been engaging in asking their children to drink sanitisers so as to get immune against the deadly virus.
The medical expert said there was no evidence that drinking sanitisers would prevent COVID-19.
She said, “We also want to address some myths in society. There are mothers that are actually giving their children sanitisers to drink.
“There is no evidence that giving sanitisers to children will prevent COVID-19. So, we encourage people to cease from doing this.”
The commissioner also allayed the fears of the people over the report that a victim of COVID-19 was at the State Hospital, Ijaiye, Abeokuta a few days ago.
Coker said the patient who visited the hospital with some symptoms of COVID-19 had tested negative.
She said, “The individual that presented to Ijaye hospital with signs and symptoms suggestive of a COVID-19. Since then, the individual who is a male has been admitted into our isolation centre and tested negative of COVID-19.
“We have treated him for other ailments and he has today been discharged home hale and hearty.”
On the number of ventilators the state has, the commissioner said not less than 24 ventilators have been secured including 10 at the 250 beds hospital in Abeokuta.
Residents of Rivers State especially persons living close to Mbiama, a border community between the state and Bayelsa, have begged Governor Nyesom Wike to review his total ban on markets across the state.
The residents said unless the governor allowed the selling of food items in the markets, they would die of ‘hunger virus’ even before the Coronavirus would get to their areas.
While they appreciated the efforts of the governor to protect Rivers citizens from the virus, the residents urged Wike to either roll out relief materials or allow the selling of only food items in markets.
Mrs. Robinson, a resident of Mbiama, said the popular market had been shut down for about a week since Wike ordered the closure of all markets in the state as part of measures to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic.
She said security operatives were on rampage at Mbiama market destroying food items to prevent people from either buying or selling.
She said hunger compelled the people in the area to confront the operatives, who insisted that nobody would sell anything at the market.
She said: “It is a terrible situation. The Coronavirus is not here but hunger wants to kill us. There is no way we can buy even foodstuffs and the government has not provided any relief materials. There is nothing in place to assist us.
“The people that have managed to get to the market are stranded. Soldiers and policemen will not allow anybody to buy anything. They destroy bags of garri. They would pour water on the fire of women frying yam along the road. The security forces and the market people have been fighting.
“The people are crying that they are hungry. What I am telling you has continued for over a week now since the governor made an announcement that markets should close down. I was thinking that the sell of other things apart from food would be affected by the order.
“I don’t know why they are not allowing foodstuffs that people depend on to live their lives. How are we going to survive?"
As shared by 2buff for single guys; Gentlemen. The reality of living has changed, and so must every notion formed from previous days that no longer hold weight today.
Women are not the only ones who should be asking what you do for a living.
You should also be asking her what she does....and guaging her wifeability from her response.
Nobody likes to suffer...yourself included.
So why sign up for a lifetime of every financial request of your immediate family (and possibly both your extended families) coming to just you alone?
Gone are the days where families survived on one income alone. Those days, houses in Nigeria used to cost #5M or less. These same houses now cost well over #30M.
I can bet your income did not also inflate 6x over the same time.
The reality is that you need a wife who also brings something home, and honestly it should hopefully be around the same (or more God willing) of what you pull in.
This way one person's income can cover the family stuff and the other person's income goes towards savings, investments, emergencies, joblessness buffering, etc.
Your family will go farther and you can even both retire earlier if this is done right.
Also Naija guys please, have some respect for yourself. If you meet a girl and she has the mental configuration of always wanting money from you, just know that she is not the one.
As a sister here once said, "A girl who truly likes you, won't ask you for money...unless it's bad and you are her last resort."
Na woman talk am. Believe that sister. Peep that one game from her, and most of you will be alright.
If a girl really likes you, she'll be too busy trying to think of ways to be an asset to your (future) life...not a taker.
Get you a girl who makes her own money with a good source of income and who understands that her income is to be included in (the family) plans.
There's no letting down with OAP Toke Makinwa. In recent times she's been all about taking hard stand on issues relating to love, s*xuality, etc. and she doesn't care who agrees with her or who doesn't.
Speaking in a video interview with Uni Franklin yesterday, Toke insisted that any man who is intimidated by a hardwoking woman isn't the man for her.
When asked if she's not bothered that some men might not be comfortable approaching her, she replied;
'Any man who is intimidated by a hardworking woman is not your guy. Any man who meets me now should be inspired. I lost both parents at 8. I basically built a life for myself. If that doesn't inspire you, I don't want to be with you.'
The number of people infected by the dreaded virus is increasing daily, it's now 139. Thankfully we are recording some recoveries. Nine persons have been cleared and discharged so far.
The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi has urged Nigerians to explore potentials in herbal medicine for the cure of coronavirus.
The monarch speaking during a press conference in his palace on Monday contended that the traditional herbal medicine has the potency to cure coronavirus adding a divine proclamation came out to the world last year June 6th 2019, during the World Ifa Festival – Otura Meji which foretold the impending rage of this invisible pandemic war.
“The cure to the pandemic Coronavirus lies in the ability to explore potentials of the alternative natural medicine.”
“We should not condemn the alternative medical practitioner at this point in time. I attest to its potency, it has been used to cure many chronic diseases. As spiritual head, this pandemic was foretold last year June. It is to help humanity in Nigeria.
“Cuba as a country that has strong traditional ties with Nigeria and the Kingdom of Ife, in particular, have not only defeated the Covid-19 but now rendering huge medical assistance to several countries across the world because they value their cultural heritage which they got from us.”
“As the spiritual head, I have a lot gathered for the use of mankind as I am also currently working with Yem Kem International (Alternative Medicine Expert) pharmaceutical company for the packaging and distribution of these medications globally. I also challenge researchers both in Nigeria and abroad to make these natural herbs into clinical medicine and extract the vaccines from it,'', he said.
Ooni also admonished Nigerians to learn from the worst-hit nations and also find means in keeping their environment clean and maintain good hygiene to curb the spread of coronavirus and other diseases.
Singer Rihanna has become the first person to grace the cover of British Vogue magazine in a durag for a high-fashion shoot.
Speaking with the magazine, the 32-year-old opened up on her plans to start her family and she's controversial about it...
Sharing her personal aspirations, the singer revealed she's open to raising 'three or four children' alone if she doesn't find The One, telling the publication in its May issue: 'Would I do it on my own? Hell yeah!'
Rihanna, who split from Saudi billionaire Hassan Jameel in January following a three-year romance, added: 'I'll have kids - three or four of 'em'.
Hailing 'love' as the most fundamental element in being a parent, Rihanna said: 'Hell yeah, I feel like society makes me want to feel like 'Oh you got it wrong …' They diminish you as a mother, [if] there's not a dad in your kid's lives.
'But the only thing that matters is happiness, that's the only healthy relationship between a parent and a child. That's the only thing that can raise a child truly, is love.'
As part of plans to effectively lock down the Lagos metropolis, the police have blocked the inbound and outbound sections of the Lagos-Ibadan express way.
This move follows the recent order by President Muhammadu Buhari, in line with local and global best practices for curbing the spread of COVID-19.
In his nationwide broadcast on Sunday, President Buhari ordered that a total lock down be observed in two states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), in a bid to combat the virus.
The President said directed the cessation of all movements in Lagos and the FCT for an initial period of 14 days with effect from 11pm on Monday, 30th March 2020.
US President, Donald Trump has lambasted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, saying there's 'something wrong with her' and insisting that she's a 'sick puppy' for holding up the $1 trillion economic stimulus package for a week even though she knew Americans were in desperate need of the aid during this coronavirus pandemic.
Congress passed a $2.2 trillion economic stimulus package on Friday and Trump signed it into law shortly after to help citizens, families and businesses recover economically from financial damages incurred as a result of coronavirus pandemic as the U.S. death toll from coronavirus doubled, reaching 2,000 in the US this weekend.
The president's attack against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi comes after she launched an attack against him on Sunday morning for his handling of the coronavirus crisis.
Pelosi, blasted the president on Sunday for exacerbating the coronavirus crisis, she said on CNN's State of the Union Sunday morning.
'As the president fiddles, people are dying,'
'What the president – his denial at the beginning was deadly,' the House Speaker said.
'His delaying of getting equipment to where – it continues – his delaying getting equipment to where it's needed is deadly.'
'And now, I think the best thing would be to do is to prevent more loss of life rather than open things up so that – because we just don't know,' she continued
'We have to have testing, testing, testing – that's what we said from the start – before we can evaluate what the nature of it is in some of these other regions, as well,' she continued. 'I don't know what the purpose of that is.'
Trump has fired back at Pelosi, who infamously led the failed impeachment effort against him towards the ending of 2019.
'Well you know, it's a sad thing. Look, she's a sick puppy in my opinion. She really is. She's got a lot of problems and that's a horrible thing to say,' Trump said in reaction to a question during a Fox & Friends interview Monday about Pelosi blaming him for not handling the coronavirus crisis in a timely manner, and claiming while he 'fiddles, people are dying.'
'Dr. Fauci said the other day, if those people came in, if I didn't do that [closed borders], you would have had deaths like you would have never seen before, and you know, she doesn't mention that and that was early and don't forget she was playing the impeachment game. Her game where she ended up looking like a fool.'
No doubt Coronavirus is changing the way people live and the way the love, these days. Nigerian comedian AY did not spend money for food and drinks to celebrate as his beautiful wife, Mabel Makun, recently turned a year older.
The comedian was seen spraying her with dollars in their home, and the money remained with them in the house. Lol!
He wrote: “HAPPY ISOLATION BIRTHDAY TO MY LOVELY WIFE @realmabelmakun. GOD BLESS YOU FOR BEING A BLESSING. #stayhome #staysafe”.
When singer Davido and his Fiancee, Chioma did their test some days ago, he was Negative, she was Positive. Now the Governor of Oyo State who he met before their test has also tested Positive.
This scenario has become some sort of a puzzle for several Nigerians on social media, who are now calling on Davido to take the Coronavirus test again.
Minister of humanitarian affairs, disaster management and social development, Sadiya Farouq, says the Federal government has begun cash transfer to the poorest households in the country to cushion the economic impact of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Farouk announced this at a press conference in Abuja. She said her ministry has commenced advance payment of conditional cash transfer to the poorest households in the country.
She however did not disclose the amount of cash that is being transfered to the poor.
“In Mr. President’s speech, paragraph 54, he directed that the conditional cash transfer should be given in advance of two months. This we have also done. We have directed immediate cash transfer to the poorest and most vulnerable households in the country.
“Because of this COVID-19, the vulnerable groups have to expanded, because we are aware that there are people who live on daily wage, so we are also going to look at those groups of people to see how we can get this food relief intervention to them in this period.” she said.
