Chief Superintendent of Police on the run after testing positive for coronavirus in Abuja

 

   Police authorities and officials of the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) are looking for a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) who tested positive for Covid-19 but fled when a team came to evacuate him on Friday afternoon, The Nation has learnt. It was gathered the CSP (names withheld) attached to 21 Police Mobile Force (PMF) Nyanya, Abuja, was billed to be evacuated from his residence at Garki Barracks around 2pm on Friday.

   The officer was said to have been under quarantine and treatment at the National Hospital Abuja Isolation Centre after he tested positive. It was however not clear how and why the senior officer left the hospital and returned to his home where he was said to have continued self- treatment with the help of his friends and colleagues until NCDC officials came for him.

    Sources said the health workers were led by policemen from Garki Division to the officer’s residence but he refused all entreaties to open the door and follow them. It was gathered the officer and his family members were seen peeping through the window while the evacuators made unsuccessful efforts to convince him to follow them.

  “He was later seen driving out of the barracks in his car to an unknown destination. His mobile phone has remained unreachable. “Surveillance teams have been set up to trail and take him into custody. Police medical team have been alerted and on standby,” said a source.

US biotech company claims it has discovered cure for coronavirus

 

   Scientists at a California biotech company have found an antibody that completely blocks coronavirus in a discovery they called a 'cure,' Fox News reports.

  Sorrento Therapeutics, based in San Diego, claims its STI-1499 antibody stopped coronavirus from entering 100 percent of healthy human cells in petri dish experiments. It's one of several antibodies planned to be combined for a drug 'cocktail' Sorrento is developing in collaboration with Mt Sinai School of Medicine in New York.

   In a press release, Sorrento said it could produce up to 200,000 doses of the antibody a month - a production timeline that would likely make the drug available months sooner than a COVID-19 vaccine is expected. The company has filed for emergency approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), but has not yet received the green light. Stocks for Sorrento soared by nearly 220 percent on the heels of the announcement.

   'We want to emphasize there is a cure,' Sorrento's CEO, Dr Henry Ji, told Fox. 'There is a solution that works 100 percent. 'If we have the neutralizing antibody in your body, you don't need the social distancing. You can open up a society without fear.'

COVID-19: Madagascar demands 170,000 Euros from Fed Govt for herbal drugs

 

  REPUBLIC of Madagascar has asked Nigeria to pay 170,000 Euros for the quantity of its COVID-19 cure drugs sent to the Federal Government, it was learnt at the weekend.

The quantity of the consignment sent to Nigeria through Guinea Bissau could not be ascertained yesterday. Guinea Bissau President Umaro Sissoco Embalo, who visited President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House in Abuja on Saturday, brought the drugs allocated to Nigeria by Madagascar.

   President Buhari said Nigeria would take the drug through intensive test to determine its suitability. A source on Sunday said: “For our consignments in Guinea Bissau, Madagascar has asked Nigeria to pay over €170,000 (N78, 200,000). We have received the invoice because the African country has made us to realise that the drugs are not being given out free.

  “We are being asked to pay for the drugs yet to be validated. Since the AU directed the supply of the drugs to African countries, we may have no choice than to pay for it. “This payment may, however, be one-off because mass importation of the drugs from Madagascar will not be cost effective. By the time we take into account the cost of freight, the amount will be too high.

THE NATION

COVID-19: President Buhari To Address The Nation Today

President Muhammadu Buhari will address Nigerians on Monday, even as the first phase of the gradual easing of the COVID-19 lockdown comes to an end.

This is according to Aliyu Sani, the national coordinator of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19. Mr. Aliyu made this disclosure when he appeared on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics.

Nigeria Records 338 New COVID-19 Cases, Total Infections Near 6,000

Nigeria has recorded 338 new cases of the novel coronavirus, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.

In a tweet on its official handle late Sunday, the NCDC said Lagos had recorded 177 new cases, while Kano posted 64 cases.

Other regions with new cases include the FCT with 21, Rivers with 16, Plateau with 14, Oyo 11, Katsina nine, Jigawa and Kaduna with four each, and three cases from the trio of Abia, Bauchi, and Borno.

Gombe, Akwa Ibom, and Delta states also recorded two new cases each, while Kebbi and Sokoto shared two cases between them.

338 new cases of #COVID19;

177-Lagos

64-Kano

21-FCT

16-Rivers

14-Plateau

11-Oyo

9-Katsina

4-Jigawa

4-Kaduna

3-Abia

3-Bauchi

3-Borno

2-Gombe

2-Akwa Ibom

2-Delta

1-Ondo

1-Kebbi

1-Sokoto

5959 cases of #COVID19 in Nigeria

Discharged: 1594

Deaths: 182 pic.twitter.com/1nC9HjskN3

— NCDC (@NCDCgov) May 17, 2020