Yesterday, there were reports on social media that part of a popular mall in Calabar went down. But the management of the Mall have now clarified it saying NOTHING happened to the building, but only an External Advertisement Board by the parking of the mall collapsed. Read part of the official press staetment; ''The management and owners of the Calabar Mall and SPAR would like to go on record to clarify certain false communications that are circulating online. The Calabar Mall building did NOT collapse as suggested through fake claims on the internet, and the shops remain open to customers.
''Mrs. Egbunu Kemi, the Management of the Mall has stated on record that the External Advertisement Board located by the parking of the mall collapsed, possibly due to heavy winds. We are delighted and relieved that nobody was hurt in the incident, but unfortunately a few vehicles were damaged.
''In her words, “the collapse of the billboard happened in the evening of April 2, 2020, as a Safety Conscious organization, we have hitherto ensured that the entire mall is built to leading standards. The External billboard collapsed and thankfully, nobody was hurt.”
It's possible that the fear being expressed that a lot of people already have the virus without knowing as they are not showing symptoms is not a far from the truth.
A mum of twin boys has died in hospital just days after falling ill with contracting coronavirus symptoms - despite having no underlying health conditions.
Caroline Saunby, 48, from New Marske, North Yorkshire, died at James Cook University Hospital.
Her grieving twin sister Sarah Jarvis issued a stark after the death of the mum of two six-year-old boys death, which she said had ripped their shocked family apart.
Mrs Jarvis warned that the tragedy showed that the deadly illness could strike anyone, saying her sister had taken "every precaution under the sun".
She told The Sun: "People believe that because they are young and healthy they aren't at risk but [these] are the reality of how coronavirus can change anyone's life."
One of the stories that have got the gossip-crazy section of Nigeria's social media users talking since last night is the pregnancy photo of actress Sotayo Gaga, which was said to have leaked.
Many, including her fans, are surprised because they don't know her as a married woman. We guess their question is, who got the beautiful actress pregnant?
An Indian couple have done the unthinkable, even as the world grapples and is almost at a standstill over the devastions being recorded daily from the dreaded Coronavirus.
The parents pictured above with their twins have named them Corona and Covid.
They claim that some nurses at the hospital where the twins were delivered referred to them as Corona and Covid, so they as parents decide to make the name official for their babies.
Oprah Winfrey on Thursday splashed $10 million in donations to coronavirus relief efforts in the United States.
The food fund set up by Leonardo DiCaprio and Lauren Powell Jobs is one of the beneficiaries of her generosity. The fund is backed by Apple and Ford Foundation.
DiCaprio and Lauren have committed $12million.
According to reports, Oprah donated $1million to the fund.
The Food Fund will supply food to hard-hit communities.
Oprah’s remaining $9million will go to other relief initiatives in Tennessee and Mississippi, where she grew up.
Other U.S. celebrities have made contributions as well.
Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds donated $1million to food banks in the US and Canada.
US television host Kelly Ripa donated $1million for the procurement of urgently needed ventilators.
Residents of Omole Estate, Phase II, Lagos are in perpetual fear following the death of a patient suspected to have died of Coronavirus.
Report said the patient who 'showed' Coronavirus symptoms was rushed to the Primary Healthcare Centre in the area, and that there was no ambulance from the NCDC and the Lagos State Ambulance Service (LASAMBUS) to evacuate her to the Infectious Disease Centre, Yaba.
She was said to have been returned to her residence in a tricycle where she eventually died.
According to Starconnect, her death spread panic in the estate after the chairman, Omole Phase II, Mr. Bamidele Lanisa reportedly issued a notice urging residents to stay indoor over the case.
The chairman, in the notice wrote: “Dear Residents, this is to inform you that there is a confirmed case of coronavirus in our neighboring community (Olowoira).
“The patient was taken to the Health Centre and when the NCDC/Lagos ambulance was unavailable to evacuate her, she was returned to her residence in a tricycle and eventually died.
“As you can imagine, many people came in contact with the patient and the risk to transmission in the neighborhood is real.
“We advise residents to please stay in their houses and refrain from unnecessarily going about. Please safe. We advise a total stay at home for now.”
An Indian couple have named their newborn twins as Corona and Covid -- names connected with the pandemic raging in the world at the moment.
For the couple based in Raipur, in the state of Chhattisgarh, the two words may evoke fear and devastation to the world, but for them, they symbolise triumph over hardship.
The names remind them about all the hardships they overcame amid the lockdown, to have a successful delivery of the babies in the night of March 26-27 at a government hospital.
“I was blessed with the twins, a boy and a girl, in the early hours on March 27. We have named them Covid (boy) and Corona (girl) for now,” Preeti Verma, the 27-old mother of the newborns, said in a report by The Hindu.
“The delivery happened after facing several difficulties and therefore, me and my husband wanted to make the day memorable.
“Indeed the virus is dangerous and life-threatening but its outbreak made people focus on sanitation, hygiene and inculcate other good habits. Thus, we thought about these names,” she said, giving reasons for their unusual decision.
“When the hospital staff also started calling the babies as Corona and Covid, we finally decided to name them after the pandemic,” she said.
Concern is mounting over the gate of millions of ordinary Nigerians who depend on their daily outing to survive and feed their families, especially in Nigeria's commercial capital, Lagos.
The cry in Lagos now is that if Coronavirus doesn't kill people, hunger will kill many...
Google on Thursday said it is pumping $6.5 million into fact-checkers and nonprofits as it ramps up its the battle against coronavirus misinformation.
Fact-checking organisations, which often operate on relatively small budgets, are seeing a surge in demand for their work as mistaken or maliciously false information about the pandemic spreads, according to Alexios Mantzarlis of the Google News Lab.
“Uncertainty and fear make us all more susceptible to inaccurate information, so we’re supporting fact-checkers as they address heightened demand for their work,” Mantzarlis said.
A Poynter Institute report last year on the state of fact-checking indicated that more than a fifth of fact-checking organizations operated with annual budgets of less than $20,000.
“We are supporting fact-checking projects around the world with a concentration on parts hardest hit by the pandemic,” Mantzarlis told AFP.
“This can be a noticeable infusion of additional support at a time of stress.”
Google is also looking to use its products and “ecosystem” to bolster the battle against COVID-19 misinformation.
The Google News Initiative is increasing its support for nonprofit First Draft, which provides a resource hub, training and crisis simulations for journalists covering news during times of crisis, according to Mantzarlis.
Google is also supporting the creation of a public health resource database for reporters.
“We also want to do more to surface fact-checks that address potentially harmful health misinformation more prominently to our users,” Mantzarlis said.
“We’re experimenting with how to best include a dedicated fact-check section in the COVID-19 Google News experience.”
Google is conducting a test in India and Africa to explore how to use trends in what people are asking or searching for online to let fact-checkers know where a lack of reliable answers may invite misinformation.
One of the daughters of President Muhammadu Buhari has reunited with her family after she returned from isolation.
The lady, whose name was not disclosed, reunited with her family on Thursday after she went into isolation for 14 days, following her return to the country.
A media aide to Mrs Aisha Buhari, Aliyu Abdullahi, revealed this in a statement.
He explained that the isolation was done in line with the protocol of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), to ascertain the health status of returning travellers on coronavirus (COVID-19).
The President’s daughter, according to Abdullahi, is normal, very healthy, and well at the end of the isolation period.
He added that she reunited with her family on Thursday afternoon and was personally received by her mother, the first lady.
“The lesson here for Nigerians and other parents to learn is that this is a child with all the privileges one can ever think to have in the country, but the parents and the daughter insisted in following the NCDC protocol,” Abdullahi said.
Elated Aisha who could not also hide her joy took to Twitter to share the news of her daughter’s return.
She also prayed for a speedy recovery for those who have tested positive for coronavirus in the country, as the total confirmed cases of COVID-19 rose to 184.
See the first lady’s tweet below:
It is a thing of joy & gratitude to Almighty God to reunite with my daughter after she had been in isolation for 14 days immediately she landed in Nigeria. While I’m wishing all those infected for a speedy recovery, I pray for the end of this pandemic. . #AbujaScaleUppic.twitter.com/t3KyJ3d29n
The number of coronavirus cases in Africa rose to 6,470 on Thursday, the Africa Centre for Disease Control (CDC) has reported.
The figure rose from the 5,940 cases reported on April 1 in 49 African countries where coronavirus cases have been reported.
Two hundred and forty-one deaths and 504 recoveries have also been recorded as of 5pm EAT on April 2, according to the ACDC.
A breakdown of the figures show that North Africa remains the worst hit with 2,740 cases, 162 deaths, and 290 recoveries, followed by South Africa with 1,471 cases, 10 deaths, and 34 recoveries.
In West Africa, 1,207 coronavirus cases, 35 deaths, and 147 recoveries have been reported, while East Africa has 586 cases, 13 deaths, and 14 recoveries.
Central Africa has the least cases of the pandemic on the continent with 466 cases, 21 deaths, and 19 recoveries.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, said the numbers were increasing exponentially in the African region.
“It took 16 days from the first confirmed case in the Region to reach 100 cases. It took a further 10 days to reach the first thousand.
“Three days after this, there were 2000 cases, and two days later we were at 3000,” he revealed.
In a bid to contain the spread of the deadly virus, many countries across Africa have restricted movements and gathering of people.
While parts of Nigeria are locked down, nationwide lockdowns are in effect in Kenya, Uganda, and the Republic of Congo, among others.
Dr Moeti and Ms Lola Castro, the WFP Regional Director for Southern Africa, addressed the restrictive measures during a virtual media briefing held on Thursday by the WHO Regional Office for Africa with the support of the World Economic Forum.
“For socially restrictive measures to be effective, they must be accompanied by strong, sustained and targeted public health measures that locate, isolate, test and treat COVID-19 cases,” Dr Moeti pointed out.
“It’s vital that ports continue to operate to receive food and other essential humanitarian cargo; that borders and roads stay open so it can be moved where it is most needed, and that distributions to vulnerable people are conducted safely,” said Ms Castro.
She added, “It’s also crucial that the international community promptly provide the considerable funding needed to maintain and scale up assistance programmes.”
Anambra Gov. Willie Obiano says the state government is set to distribute no fewer than three million face mask.
He also stated that 63 markets would be fumigated to minimize human exposure to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and other infections in the state.
The Governor, who stated this at a special broadcast on Thursday at Aguleri in Anambra East Local Government Area, said the masks would be made by local tailors selected from each of the 181 communities of the state.
“Our intention in handing out three million masks is to ensure that after the 14-day lockdown of the state, no one will step out of their home without wearing a nose mask.
“Government and the leadership of tricycle and shuttle bus operators in the state are also given a two-month waiver on permits they pay to cushion the sudden fall in their income.
“This is also a part of our economic stimulus package for the vulnerable,” he added.
Obiano further disclosed that the state government had migrated its classrooms to radio, television and Facebook to ensure that school children were not adversely affected by the lockdown.
According to him, a programme titled “Anambra Teaching on Air” had commenced on the state government media platforms to meet the educational needs of school children.
Iranian Parliamentary Speaker Ali Larijani has tested positive for COVID-19 and is now in quarantine, the semi-official Isna news agency reported on Thursday, as the number of cases in the country surpassed 50,000.
The 62-year-old has been speaker since 2008 and is one of the most influential politicians in Iran. Before running for parliament, he was former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s Chief Nuclear Negotiator.
Iran is suffering from the worst outbreak in the Middle East.
According to the Health Ministry on Thursday, the death toll has risen to 3,160 while a total of 50,468 infections has been recorded.
More than 4,000 of those infected are in critical condition, ministry spokesperson Kianush Jahanpur said.
President Hassan Rowhani predicted on Thursday that the coronavirus crisis would continue to affect the country for many months to come.
“I have to clarify again that we are unable to say when the crisis will definitely be over. It could take months, even until the end of the [Persian] year [March 2021],” Rowhani said.
The current state of emergency is scheduled to remain in place until April 8. A government crisis unit would decide on Sunday if the strict social distancing regulations need to be prolonged beyond that date, Rowhani said, according to the Presidential Office.
About 10 persons have been killed in Bassa town of Bassa local government area of Plateau State on Wednesday night by unknown gunmen.
On Tuesday night, the same local government was attacked in which three persons were killed and many others injured.
This attack is coming barely two weeks after two soldiers attached to Operation Safe Haven (OPSH) and two other persons were killed in Katummai village of same Bassa local council.
When contacted, the Plateau State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), ASP Simon Ubah Ogaba, confirmed the attacks but said he would get back to the reporter on the death toll, which he was yet to do as at press time yesterday.
President of the Irigwe Development Association (IDA) of Bassa council, Sunday Abdu, bemoaned the spate of attacks in the area, saying they are helpless in the face of the incessant attacks and killings in this difficult time of coronavirus pandemic.
“That is what is happening; attacks and more attacks. They killed three persons on Tuesday night and killed seven persons again on Wednesday night,” he lamented.
A resident who vowed not to leave his compound close to where the incident happened, said he is preparing for them to come next time and face the full wrath of his tradition.
Angered by the incident, the Senator representing Plateau North Constituency, Senator Istifanus Gyang, said he was saddened over the attacks. In a statement yesterday by his Special Adviser, Media and Protocol, Musa Ibrahim Ashoms, Gyang, who is the Deputy Chairman, Senate Committee on Defence, said it is sad and disturbing that while all nations, Nigeria inclusive, are battling to overcome the plague of coronavirus, killer bandits are still in the habit of attacking helpless communities of Plateau North Senatorial District.
He stated that it is necessary for the police and Operation Safe Haven to rise up to their primary responsibility of securing the lives of citizens both in the cities and rural areas. He asserted that the lives of rural dwellers matter as much as those in urban areas.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, on Thursday declared that President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration was being faced with a challenge that no government in the history of Nigeria had confronted.
Osinbajo, who was recently appoint by Buhari as Chairman of Economic Sustainability Committee, said this while explaining what the new team plans to achieve.
“We must communicate to our people where we are now, and that we can no longer assume we are still where we used to be.
“We are faced with a challenge that no government in the history of Nigeria has ever faced. So, we have to redesign our economic planning and change our thinking”, he said at the inaugural meeting.
In the last few weeks, oil prices, a critical driver of the Nigerian economy, have crashed from the budget benchmark of $57 per barrel to less than $20 amidst the other worsening implications of the pandemic with forecasts of impending recession on a global scale.
Oainbajo noted that “what Mr President has asked us to do is to devise a strategy in order to be able to keep the economy going and also make provisions to ensure that we are able to retain jobs and indeed create more.
“We also need to develop the Nigerian economy in a way that we will even take advantage of the challenges of these times and convert those challenges to opportunities."
It is not clear whether Kogi State Governor Alhaji Yahaya Bello has submitted himself to test to ascertain if he is free of the COVID-19. The governor’s media aides have not responded to Daily Trust reporter’s inquiries on the development.
The governor, who said he was on self-isolation, has since relocated to Abuja but returned to Lokoja, the state capital, on Monday.
Bello’s status had been a subject of controversy following his contact with the Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Abba Kyari during the 3-day fidda’u prayer of the governor’s mother, Hajiya Hauwawu Bello, in Okene. Kyari is confirmed to have tested positive for coronavirus.
Many Nigerians and the main opposition party in the state, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have urged the governor to submit himself to test amidst silence from the government after Kyari’s status was made public.
The governor, who was reluctant to speak on the development, had to take to Twitter following online reports alleging that he had tested positive.
His Chief Press Secretary, Onogwu Muhammed, also debunked the reports, saying his principal was hale and hearty. However, tension further heightened in the state when three governors announced their statuses.
This development has made many to call on Bello to submit himself to further test if he had tested negative earlier, as some of his aides said. But up till the time of filing this report, the governor has not said he submitted to test for the virus.
Governors Bala Mohammed (Bauchi), Nasir el-Rufai (Kaduna) and Seyi Makinde (Oyo) have publicly announced that they have tested positive for the COVID-19.
Francis Van-Lare, the ex-husband of relationship expert, Amara Nwosu's has been married and divorced five times.
His marriage with Abuja-based Calabar-Tanzanian Architect in 2018 ended after seven months.
In response to a follower who asked why all his five marriages ended in divorce, the US-based Nigerian man said his marriages all ended for one and same reason:
his "I can always catch another ‘Uber' mindset" - In other words, his lack of tolerance or patience in certain things because he knows that he can always find himself another woman.
Francis Van-Lare's response below;''The women did not complain and left as all of them except the one that beat me up are still my friends and I was the one that left in most cases and mutual in other cases. I did not even date the last two more than a month and we got married.
Recently a babe I like that I am considering seriously dating made me realize something that I should not go into a relationship with the mindset that I can always get out and that is exactly the case with my last two marriages, as I have plenty of options of women to choose from .
She is not even on Facebook or Instagram to see the options to have made the statement but she deduced that from my behavior to her.
Like Davido’s song ‘Every time call me Uber'. That is exactly what I realized I was doing when she sat me down to talk to me. In other words no tolerance or patience on my part in certain things because I know I can always catch another ‘Uber'.
The babe herself can get any man without a sweat as she is got everything good going for her and she is used to men trolling all over her not this Jankaraman that every time ready to find another babe and move on. She told me that she is like me when it comes to men, small thing dump them, that is why she has not dated last three years with no interest for men as she has no patience for rubbish too.
I stayed away from her a couple times and kept my distance and she did same too and I was ready to find me another ‘Uber'. Each time, she was the one that reached back out to me. The last time she asked me to sit down and listen unless I want to be an old man and live alone.
She told me that I will marry 20 more wives lasting less than 3 months each if I do not change my mindset that I can always get another woman when getting married to the next one. That next one will not even be given a chance the moment the marriage is having teething issues as I will just pay off the woman and tell her to leave as usual and for how long will I be doing that?
According to her she likes me and that is why she is even reaching back to me each time I want to end it but for my own good, I should go and work on that mindset of mine before I say I want to marry anyone and that includes her because she cannot marry someone going into a marriage thinking he has options.
Quoting her, ‘You are a nice guy for any woman , but go and read a relationship book on how you can keep a woman not this how I can always get another woman attitude you have'.
A 53-year-old Chinese national has been granted R20,000 bail in the Durban magistrate's court in connection with charges related to contravening the Disaster Management Act.
The man was arrested by a multidisciplinary team on Sunday for allegedly locking up 14 employees for several days and forcing them to produce masks in response to the demand created by the outbreak of the coronavirus.
After a tip-off, inspectors from the KZN department of economic development Consumer Protection Unit made the arrest and rescued 14 workers at the firm in Glen Anil.
