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South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday announced a $26 billion relief package aimed at supporting the economy and the vulnerable during the coronavirus pandemic. In a special address to the nation, Ramaphosa announced “a massive social and economic support package of 500 billion rand ($26.3 billion), which amounts to about 10 percent of our GDP.” “The scale of this emergency programme is historical,” he said.

Kayode Oyero Twelve states have not recorded any case of the coronavirus disease in Nigeria, The PUNCH reports. This is as the novel virus spreads to 25 states in the country including the Federal Capital Territory Abuja. According to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control as of Tuesday night, 782 confirmed COVID-19 cases were reported in the country while 197 recoveries and 25 fatalities have been recorded. A health worker at the National Public Health Reference Laboratory in Gaduwa, Abuja. Photo: NHW The Centre said, “As at 11:25 pm 21st April, breakdown of cases by states: Lagos-430, FCT-118, Kano-73, Osun-20, Ogun-20, Oyo-16, Katsina-16, Edo-15, Kwara-9, Kaduna-9, Akwa Ibom-9, Borno-9, Bauchi-8, Gombe-5, Delta-4, Ekiti-4, Ondo-3, Rivers-3, Jigawa-2, Enugu-2, Niger-2, Abia-2, Benue-1, Anambra-1 and Sokoto-1.” However, Adamawa, Bayelsa, Cross River, Ebonyi, Imo, Kebbi, Kogi, Nasarawa, Plateau, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara States were yet to record any case of the infection. ...

The US state of Missouri on Tuesday sued China’s leadership over the COVID-19 coronavirus, seeking damages over what it described as deliberate deception and insufficient action to stop the pandemic. The first-of-a-kind state lawsuit comes amid calls in Congress to punish China and a campaign by President Donald Trump to focus on Beijing’s role, amid criticism of his own handling of the crisis. Missouri, led by Trump’s Republican Party, filed a lawsuit in a federal court seeking an unspecified amount in damages and an injunction on continuing actions by China that are alleged to include hoarding of protective equipment. “The Chinese government lied to the world about the danger and contagious nature of COVID-19, silenced whistleblowers and did little to stop the spread of the disease,” Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt said. “They must be held accountable for their actions,” he said. The lawsuit’s chances of success are far from certain as US law, under the principle of ...

Abia State Governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu has announced the indefinite closure of a private hospital where the two index cases of the coronavirus in the state were receiving medical attention before their referral to the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Umuahia. Ikpeazu, in a media briefing in Umuahia, the state capital, added that all the medical staffers and patients on admission at the yet-to-be-named private in the hospital would remain quarantined until the result of their samples returns back from the NCDC centre. ABN TV reports the state recorded two index cases of COVID-19 on Monday 20th April 2020, which sent jitters to many residents. The Governor gave the ages of the two index cases as70 and 72, adding they had underlying medical ailment ranging from “High blood pressure, diabetes, stroke, and heart failure”. He pointed out that the state has started massive contact tracing of all persons, who had contact with the index cases in Ikwuano, Ukwa West, and Umuahia North Local ...

IgbereTV reports that the Federal Government has announced the indefinite postponement of this year’s West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination and the National Examinations Council because of the outbreak of coronavirus pandemic. The Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, said this at the daily Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 briefing in Abuja on Tuesday. Both examinations were slated for May and June 2020. The minister said that 15 states had already commenced electronic learning for pupils on their local television and radio channels following the stay-at-home orders of the federal and several state governments. Nwajiuba appealed to parents to cooperate with the government to ensure that their children were made available to learn at the designated hours and channels. The minister said the government was looking at what to do for schools to reopen. According to him, nobody can reopen schools until all efforts have been coordinated by the g...

ABUJA — PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has approved immediate payments of the two months withheld salaries of University lecturers that refused to enroll in the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System, IPPIS. The President’s approval came after he had a meeting with the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige yesterday in Abuja. The Federal Government and the leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, have been on loggerheads over the refusal of the university teachers to join in the IPPIS payment platform. Even the other three university-based unions, the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, SSANU, National Association of Academic Technologists, NAAT, and the Non-Academic Union of Universities, NASU that had enrolled in the IPPIS have threatened to pull out over the alleged irregularities in its implementation. The Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige told Vanguard that President Buhari has directed the M...

The Inspector-General of Police, Mr Mohammed Adamu, had ordered the deployment of Ms Janet Agbede as the new Commissioner of Police in Abia. A statement by the Force Public Relations Officer, DCP Frank Mba, on Tuesday in Abuja, said Agbede would take over from Mr Okon Ene who had been redeployed to the Force Headquarters. He said the deployment of Agbede followed the unprofessional conduct and misuse of a firearm by a policeman in Ebem Ohafia area of the state that led to the death of one Ifeanyi Arunsi. The IG condemned the unfortunate incident that happened on Friday, adding that it was glaring that the policeman was unprofessional in his conduct. He condemned the resort to self-help by some people in the area and the destruction of government property and operational assets of the police. Adamu also constituted a Special Investigation Panel headed by Mr Anthony Ogbizi, the Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of the Force Criminal Investigation Department. He sai...

As at 11:25 pm 21st April, breakdown of cases by states: Lagos-430 FCT-118 Kano-73 Osun-20 Ogun-20 Oyo-16 Katsina-16 Edo-15 Kwara-9 Kaduna-9 Akwa Ibom-9 Borno-9 Bauchi-8 Gombe-5 Delta-4 Ekiti-4 Ondo-3 Rivers-3 Jigawa-2 Enugu-2 Niger-2 Abia-2 Benue-1 Anambra-1 Sokoto-1