The UK could face a gonorrhoea outbreak once lockdown comes to an end, as high rates of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) return, medics have claimed.
Before the pandemic, Britain was experiencing the worst rates of STDs since the Second World War.
In February last year a Station of the Nation report found gonorrhea had risen by 249% and syphilis by 165% over the last decade. Since then, Covid restrictions have prevented people from socialising and meeting up with others from outside their homes – with sex even becoming illegal during some months.
The number of people visiting sexual health clinics dropped by 85% due to lockdown, data revealed. Experts fear this will rise suddenly once restrictions are changed.
Dr John McSorley, president of the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV (BASHH), is now calling on Brits to get tested for STDs before lockdown ends. He told MyLondon: ‘There are a lot of similarities between Covid and STIs. The notions of social distancing and isolating have been in sexual health for a long time.
‘We are on our way back to where we were a year ago. As we open society up again we can expect more gonorrhoea and syphilis. ‘People are rebounding back to living a normal life as they can and that includes a safe and entertaining sex life. About 80 to 90% of people have seen their sexual activity reduced in the last year.’
The Ministry of Finance, on Monday, released N10 billion to support domestic vaccines production to tackle Covid-19 pandemic in the Nigeria.
The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, made this known at the Presidential Task Force (PTF) Covid-19 briefing on Monday in Abuja.
Ehanire said: “The Ministry of Finance has released N10 billion to support domestic vaccine production.
“While we are working to develop our own vaccines, Nigeria is exploring options for licensed production, in collaboration with recognised institutions.
“The country is also exploring the option of local production of the vaccines in the country.”
The health minister appealed to Nigerians to ignore claims by some people that they had Covid-19 vaccines for sale in the country.
According to him, those claims are criminal as procedures for vaccine acquisition and use include appropriate regulations and certification by National Agency for Food and Drug and Administration and Control (NAFDAC).
The Chief of Staff of the Biafra Nations League, BNL, and leader of Displaced Bakassi Peninsula Youths, Mr Linus Essien, has been arrested in Ikang-Cameroon border area by Nigerian soldiers.
This was disclosed in a statement by the National Leader of BNL, Princewill Chimezie Richard.
The group said Linus was arrested on Monday evening by the security agencies, who accused the group of setting up an armed group to fight the Nigerian soldiers across the South South and Southeast.
The group also raised the alarm over arrest and torture of its members in the Bakassi Peninsula by Cameroon Gendarmes.
The group accused the Nigerian Army of allowing military from the ceded area in Cameroon to come into Ikang, in Bakassi Local Government area of Cross River State to abduct Ambazonia separatists.
In a separate statement jointly signed by the Deputy National Leader of BNL, Ebuta Akor Takon and made available to DAILY POST on Monday, the group condemned the arrest of people associated with Biafra and Ambazonia in the Bakassi Peninsula, warning that such actions could result to unrest in the already troubled region.
BNL further revealed that it is planning to hoist it’s flag in Bakassi Peninsula and two other Cameroon border areas in Cross River State by February, they boasted that Biafra have more followers in the region than Cameroon government.
The group advised other pro-Biafra groups to look beyond respecting the Nigerian constitution, adding that “Biafra cannot be achieved without civil disobedience and a little bit of force.”
A High Court sitting in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State capital has sentenced Assistant Commissioner of Police, Okubo Aboye to life imprisonment.
The Police ACP was sentenced to life imprisonment alongside his mechanic, Niyi Ibrahim Afolabi who sold a stolen vehicle from kidnappers in the state to him.
The Ekiti High Court also sentenced seven other persons, Solomon Ayodele Obamoyegun (39), Femi Omiawe (40), Damilola Obamoyegun (20), Bose Sade Ajayi (30), George Lucky (35), Chukwuma Nnamani (22), and Sunday Ogunleye (45) to five years imprisonment each without an option of fine for kidnapping.
The investigating Police officer testified that the car was tracked to the compound of ACP Akubo Aboye. The ACP on interrogation confessed that he bought the Hilux van from his mechanic who received it from the kidnappers.
The offence contravened sections 346(2), 1(2)a, and section 5 of the Criminal Code Cap C16 Laws of Ekiti State, 2012 and Robbery and firearms special provisions Act, Cap R11, laws of the federation of Nigeria, 2004, Felix Awoniyi, the prosecuting counsel noted.
Justice John Adeyeye who presided over the matter found the ACP guilty and sentenced him to life imprisonment accordingly.
“I find you guilty of receiving stolen vehicle. All evidence pointed to the fact that you were aware that the car was stolen. You are hereby sentenced to life imprisonment for the offence,” the justice said.
According to the charge sheet, the offence was committed on or about the 9th -19th day of May 2005 at GRA, Ado Ekiti. The kidnappers then armed themselves with guns and kidnapped one Moses Ajogri 40 and robbed him of his Toyota Hilux van with Reg. No. APP 509 BK.
Media personality, Daddy Freeze in his latest Instagram post is believed to have thrown shades at President Buhari when he shared a video of himself releasing some pigeons into the air and they FLEW.
Recall the President was recently in the news when he threw up some pigeons at the Armed Forces Remembrance Day celebration but they allegedly refused to fly.
Sharing the video, Daddy Freeze captioned it; “Yaaay my pigeons flew! Wahala for who him pigeon no fly” Watch the video below...
A Chinese scientist who vanished after she was dubbed 'the world's first Covid patient' is still missing despite a year-long manhunt amid fears of a state cover-up.
Huang Yanling was named as Patient Zero in early online reports shared widely throughout China last February, when the magnitude of the deadly virus was first coming to light.
The researcher, who worked at the Wuhan Institute of Virology is thought to have been the first to contract Covid in autumn 2019, before it was officially acknowledged.
The claims suggested a link between the pandemic and the institute - which houses zoonotic bat diseases - and sparked fears the bug had been accidentally leaked during experiments.
State officials and lab agents were quick to rubbish the reports at the time and remove them from the internet.
They claimed Huang was safe and had simply moved jobs, with a Chinese news agency even claiming to have spoken her new employer.
But China is yet to produce the scientist physically despite numerous requests from the US State Department to stop hiding information.
Their reluctance has fuelled the theory she is either dead or being held by the state to cover up the institute’s role in the pandemic, reports the Mail on Sunday.
The country is now under mounting pressure to reveal conclusive evidence of Huang's whereabouts and the true origins of the pandemic.
A post claiming to be from the scientist later appeared on the WeChat messaging service telling colleagues she was alive and claiming the reports were false.
It read: "To my teachers and fellow students, how long no speak. I am Huang Yanling, still alive. If you receive any email [regarding the Covid rumour], please say it’s not true."
But since then Huang appears to have disappeared from social media and there is no longer any mention of her name on the institute's website.
"Beijing continues today to withhold vital information that scientists need to protect the world from this deadly virus and the next one," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo added on Saturday.
Pompeo also revealed new studies from the US intelligence claim that scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology fell ill in the autumn of 2019 - earlier than previously believed - with symptoms consistent with Covid.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has recorded 1,444 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 110,387.
The NCDC disclosed this on its official Twitter handle on Sunday.
Prince William was cornered by a snarling police dog on the Sandringham estate, it has been revealed.
The Royal was enjoying a late night walk when the attack dog mistook him for an intruder.
William escaped unharmed by standing still until handler PC Jon Chandler arrived on scene. Jon has revealed the bizarre encounter for the first time after retiring from his 30 year police career.
He told the Eastern Daily Press: "I had a particularly interesting night when I was walking my dog off the lead around the grounds and he chased after the future king of England.
"It was late at night and Prince William was walking towards the garages and the dog picked up his scent and went charging after him.
"He took it in good jest. He was only young then.
"It could have gone horribly wrong if he was bitten, but fortunately the dog did what it was supposed to do, and just stood back and barked at him. It was a memorable night."
The incident is believed to have happened many years ago when Prince William, now 38, was a young man.
There was an uproar in Victoria Island area of Lagos weekend as Military personnel allegedly hired by the driver of a vehicle with covered number plate attempted to shoot operatives of the Rapid Response Squad, RRS, in a bid to prevent them from impounding the vehicle.
The driver of the vehicle, Adam Oluremi, 32, was arrested alongside the vehicle, a Mercedes Benz, ML 350.
Five other vehicles with covered plate numbers were also impounded by the policemen.
The Squad’s action was in compliance of the Lagos State Government order to the Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, to impound any vehicle driven with covered plate number in the state.
As at the time of writing this report, five of the vehicles had been transferred to the Lagos State Taskforce on Environmental Sanitation and Special Offences
The RRS officers according to the Lagos State Police Command, professionally de-escalated the crisis and successfully towed the sixth vehicle to RRS Headquarters.
Commenting on the issue, the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, CP Hakeem Odumosu, who directed that the vehicle be impounded and the driver prosecuted, maintained that nobody was above the law.
However, the RRS Commander, CSP Olayinka Egbeyemi, has charged officers of the squad to be professional in the discharge of their responsibilities, adding that they should be civil and firm in enforcing the law.
He also urged them to be dedicated and not to give room for distractions while on duty, even as he informed that “ law-abiding Lagosians should look forward to a robust relationship. The squad would be uncompromising with criminals. Criminals should either shape up with the laws of the State or relocate”
A Texas megachurch pastor and former spiritual adviser to Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush has been sentenced to six years in prison for bilking investors out of millions of dollars.
Kirbyjon H. Caldwell, 67, was sentenced Wednesday in Shreveport, Louisiana, where he and his co-defendant, Gregory A. Smith, were indicted in 2018.
Caldwell, who in March pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, was the senior pastor of Houston’s Windsor Village United Methodist Church, which has about 14,000 members.
He was a spiritual adviser to Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
According to federal prosecutors, Caldwell and Smith, a Shreveport-based investment adviser, used their clout and influence to persuade people to invest about $3.5 million in historical Chinese bonds.
The bonds were reportedly issued by the former Republic of China that lost power to the communist government in 1949.
The bonds aren’t recognized by China’s current government and have no investment value.
Caldwell “used his status as the pastor of a mega-church to help convince the many victim investors that they were making a legitimate investment.
Instead he took their hard-earned money from them and used it for his own personal gain,” Acting U.S. Attorney Alexander Van Hook said in a statement.
Caldwell used about $900,000 he received from the scheme to maintain his lifestyle and pay down credit cards and mortgages, according to the Justice Department.
Caldwell has a master’s degree from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and had worked in the financial industry.
In November, Smith was also sentenced to six years in prison.
In a video posted on Facebook, Floyd LeBlanc, chairman of the Windsor Village Church Family Personnel Committee, said Caldwell has taken full responsibility and paid full restitution to all the victims.
LeBlanc said Caldwell has remained active within the church during his case, including helping with virtual ministry and weekly food distributions to families during the pandemic.
“Mr. Caldwell has apologised and asked forgiveness from the people harmed in this matter,” LeBlanc said.
LeBlanc also described Caldwell as a victim for choosing the wrong business partners.
Joe Biden plans to end Trump’s restriction on immigration to the U.S. from some Muslim-majority countries, in his first hours as president.
He will move to rejoin the Paris climate accord and mandate mask-wearing on federal property and during interstate travel.
He will also extend the moratorium on student loan payments and actions meant to prevent evictions and foreclosures for those struggling during the pandemic.
These are some of the executive action Biden plans to take on Wednesday as he rolls back some of the most controversial decisions of his predecessor and address the raging COVID-19 pandemic.
Biden’s incoming chief of staff, Ron Klain told AP on Saturday the opening salvo would herald a 10-day blitz of executive actions as Biden seeks to act swiftly to redirect the country in the wake of Donald Trump’s presidency without waiting for Congress.
Klain has outlined the actions in a memo to senior staff.
“These executive actions will deliver relief to the millions of Americans that are struggling in the face of these crises,” Klain said in the memo.
“President-elect Biden will take action — not just to reverse the gravest damages of the Trump administration — but also to start moving our country forward.”
“Full achievement” of Biden’s goals will require Congress to act, Klain wrote, including the $1.9 trillion virus relief bill he outlined on Thursday.
Klain said that Biden would also propose a comprehensive immigration reform bill to lawmakers on his first day in office.
Providing a path to citizenship for millions of immigrants in the U.S. illegally will be part of Biden’s agenda, according to people briefed on his plans.
Ali Noorani, president of the National Immigration Forum and among those briefed, said immigrants would be put on an eight-year path. There would be a faster track for those in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which shields people from deportation who came to the U.S. as children, and for those from strife-torn countries with temporary status.
On Thursday, the new president’s second day in office, Biden would sign orders related to the COVID-19 outbreak aimed at reopening schools and businesses and expanding virus testing, Klain said.
The following day, Friday, will see action on providing economic relief to those suffering the economic costs of the pandemic.
In the following week, Klain said, Biden would take additional actions relating to criminal justice reform, climate change and immigration — including a directive to speed the reuniting of families separated at the U.S.-Mexico border under Trump’s policies.
More actions will be added, Klain said, once they clear legal review.
Incoming presidents traditionally move swiftly to sign an array of executive actions when they take office. Trump did the same, but he found many of his orders challenged and even rejected by courts.
Klain maintained that Biden should not suffer similar issues, saying “the legal theory behind them is well-founded and represents a restoration of an appropriate, constitutional role for the President.”
At least 200 defilement cases were recorded in Gombe State in 2020, the state Commissioner for Internal Security and Ethical Orientation, Dauda Dauda, has said.
Dauda who disclosed this in a chat with journalists on Saturday, disclosed that 40 out of the cases were reported in Gombe, the state capital, adding that the state recorded 39 attempted r3pe across its 11 local government areas.
He lamented that most of the cases were incest, involving fathers and their children.
The commissioner also stated that 10 kidnap cases were recorded in the state between 2020 and now, adding that investigation revealed that the kidnappings were perpetrated by criminals from the neighbouring Adamawa and Taraba states.
He said, “Thirty seven were arrested for unnatural (gay and lesbianism) offences, 61 for act of gross indecency and three cases of abandoned children were recorded in 2020.”
He stressed that gender-based violence had been recognised as a human rights abuse “that leads to high rate of mortality.”
Batari, who is also a security expert, explained that the state government had set up a security strategic plan to consider, “what should be done to ensure that Gombe is secured.”
He added, “We have also sent the bill for the establishment of the State Security and Environmental Corps to the state Assembly for ratification.”
Former speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, on Saturday tied the nuptial knot with Aisha Shinkafi Saidu, a stepdaughter of Kebbi State governor, Atiku Bagudu.
The wedding occurred in a low-key ceremony in Abuja almost four years after the former speaker divorced his first wife, Olaitan, in 2017.
Aisha, a law graduate of the University of Hull in the UK, is a granddaughter of the late former head of the Nigeria Security Organisation (NSO) and the Marafan Sokoto, Alhaji Umaru Shinkafi.
The bride’s mother is daughter to Shinkafi and a sister to the former Governor of Zamfara State, Alhaji Aliyu Shinkafi.
The Bankole family in Iporo, Abeokuta had earlier issued a statement disclosing that a quiet introduction had taken place between the two families as a prelude to the joining together of the new couple in line with Islamic and traditional injunctions.
At the introduction ceremony, the task of leading the groom’s family to that of the bride had fallen on the Governor of Sokoto State, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal, Bankole’s immediate successor as the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
The Abuja wedding was said to have been designed to be low-key because of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
It was, however, observed that many of the guests at the ceremony failed to observe the COVID-19 protocols.
This was in spite of earlier appeal to all invited guests to observe all the health and safety measures directed by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
The House of Reps has asked that school resumption in the country be postponed by three months to put in necessary safety measures in wake of the ravaging COVID-19 virus.
This is as the House faulted the Federal Government for approving that schools resume on Monday.
The House claims that officials did not consult the relevant committees of the National Assembly, contrary to their claim that all relevant stakeholders were consulted before arriving at January 18, 2021, resumption date.
Prof Julius Ihonvbere, Chairman of the House Committee on Basic Education and Services revealed in an interview with The Punch.
He said he was not consulted and no member of the committee was carried along stating that they are not seen as part of important stakeholders.
“They did not consult us; at least in my committee, nobody from the ministry spoke to me. I have been in Abuja. And I am not sure that they spoke to any of my members. They just don’t see us as part of the critical stakeholders,” he said.
Previously, in a statement by the committee chairman objected to school resuming on Monday.
The statement was titled “School resumption: Are we truly prepared?”
Ihonvbere noted in the statement that the committee is concerned especially as infection rate hovers above 1,000 daily and schools are being reopened as schools were closed when infection rate was around 500 daily.
“We are particularly concerned that when the infection rates hovered around 500 and under, schools were closed; but now that it hovers well above 1,000 infections daily, schools are being reopened. Why are we rushing to reopen schools without adequate verifiable and sustainable arrangements to protect and secure our children?”
Former Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose claimed he has been vindicated when he said in 2015 that President Muhammadu Buhari lacked the capacity to rule Nigeria.
Fayose was reacting to a report that terrorists captured a military base in Borno.
The military has however debunked the report.
Holding on to the earlier story, Fayose mocked Buhari and his service chiefs, describing the service chiefs as obsolete.
He wrote on his twitter handle: “Less than 4 days after President Buhari gleefully told Nigerians that security situation in the North-East under him is better than what it used to be, terrorists attacked and captured a Military Base in Borno State!
“A whole Military Base captured by terrorists! Isn’t this a “job well done” by the President and his obsolete Service Chiefs?
“They are indeed “doing well for keeping the country safer than the President met it.”
“Now Nigerians can appreciate why I insisted in 2015 that Buhari lacked the needed capacity to rule Nigeria.
“As for Nigerians, we are all on our own waiting for God’s deliverance from these taskmasters.”
The Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdulrasheed Akanbi has said that there are no COVID-19 cases in the town.
He said further that any COVID-19 patient that enters the community becomes healed immediately.
“We did not have any issue of coronavirus. Anybody with COVID-19 that enters Iwo will be automatically healed, the monarch said.
Oba Abdulrasheed said this while speaking at a ceremony to mark his 5th coronation anniversary on Saturday.
The king said monarchs were God’s ambassadors on earth, hence, the healing powers are inherent with them.
He said, “God has bestowed power on kings to legislate on his behalf on earth and I want to thank God that he has been supporting me since I became the king of this ancient town.
“Within the 5 years of my reign, the community has witnessed a series of development. My subjects are living happily and healthy.
“I pray for you as I am celebrating 5 years on the throne that all stagnations, poverty, and sickness of all my subjects shall come to an end.
“By extension, the same way that none of my subjects contract coronavirus, I pray that the pandemic will cease in all parts of this country and our economy will bounce back.”
The monarch in conclusion urged prayed for an end to the COVID-19 pandemic urging Nigerians to adhere to all safety protocols by National Center for Disease Control (NCDC).
Interior designer Ehi Ogbebor has shown off her new love, MC Oluomo, the chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW on her Instagram stories.
Ehi shared footage and photos of her spraying money on MC Oluomo as he danced at the 5th coronation anniversary of the Oluwo of Iwo land yesterday
She covered his face with stickers with one of the stickers reading ''King''
Traces of COVID-19 have been detected in ice cream samples in China with health authorities currently tracing those at risk of infection.
According to a report from local Chinese media, three samples of the locally produced ice cream were found to be contaminated with the virus in the Tianjin municipality in northeast China.
About 4,836 boxes of the ice cream, produced by the Tianjin Daqiaodao Food Company, were said to have been contaminated, of which 2,089 have now been sealed in storage.
However, 935 out of the 2,747 boxes of the ice cream that entered the market were said to be in Tianjin with only 65 sold so far.
Early epidemiological investigations showed that the company used raw materials including milk powder imported from New Zealand and whey powder from Ukraine in producing the batch of ice cream.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Stephen Griffin, a virologist based at the University of Leeds, doused the fears generated by the development, describing it as “a one-off.”
“It’s likely this has come from a person, and without knowing the details, I think this is probably a one-off,” he said.
“Of course, any level of contamination is not acceptable and always a cause for concern, but the chances are that this is the result of an issue with the production plant and potentially down to hygiene at the factory.”
The virologist also explained that the temperature of where the ice cream was stored and its fat content enabled the virus to survive on the tested samples.
“We probably don’t need to panic that every bit of ice cream is suddenly going to be contaminated with coronavirus,” he added.
The development has prompted authorities to place the company’s 1,662 employees under quarantine while they were also subjected to acidic testing as directed by the Tianjin center for disease control.
