Health

The United Nations (UN) has removed medical cannabis from a list of dangerous drugs like heroin, cocaine and fentanyl. It is expected this move will aid the expansion of marijuana for research and medical use.

Niger State Governor, Abubakar Sani Bello has tested positive for the dreaded COVID-19. Governor Bello made this known in a tweet on Monday, November, 9, 2020, revealing that he is asymptomatic and is in isolation. On his twitter handle he wrote: “I have tested positive to ‪#COVID19. However, I am asymptomatic and have gone into isolation,” the governor posted.

The Federal government on Monday cautioned that cases of COVID-19 will definitely increase in the coming weeks owing to the ongoing #EndSARS protests across the country. The Chairman, Presidential Taskforce, PTF, on COVID-19 and Secretary to the Government of the Federation SGF, Mr Boss Mustapha, while issuing the warning in Abuja, said despite the appreciable success recorded so far in the fight against COVID-19, the ongoing protest may spark up a second wave of the virus.
 “I can say it authoritatively that with the ongoing protest across the country, in the next two weeks the cases of COVID-19 would have increased. Each and everyone that attended the protest and did not put up any form of protection are likely going to spread the virus. When people contract the virus during the protest gathering, they will go back home and spread it.

About 113 new cases of COVID-19 has been confirmed by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on Saturday. The NCDC via its Twitter handle revealed that a total of 14 States recorded new infections in the country in the last 24 hours. The health agency said, the 113 new cases brought the nation’s confirmed COVID-19 infection cases to a total of 61,307. It also mentioned that four persons died from complications resulting from the virus.

US President, Donald Trump, has said he is getting better as he gave an update on his COVID-19 diagnosis, from Walter Reed military hospital on Saturday night. However, in a video posted on his Twitter page, he said, “I’m starting to feel good” as he promised that he was fighting the virus for COVID-19 patients “all over the world”. “You don’t know, over the next period of a few days, I guess that’s the real test, so we’ll be seeing what happens over those next couple of days,” he said.

In an effort to ramp up COVID-19 testing capacity, the Nigerian government has developed a molecular test kit named the SARS-COV-2 Isothermal Molecular Assay (SIMA). With the new kit the country can now reach higher daily target of testing. The minister of state for health, Olorunnimbe Mamora, who made this information known at the bi-weekly Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 briefing on Tuesday, said the new NIMR can produce results in less than 40 minutes. “The Nigeria Institute of Medical Research has developed a molecular test for COVID-19 that can give results in less than 40 minutes.