BY Samuel Akpan
Nigeria on Wednesday recorded 13 COVID infections. Here are five updates about the pandemic this Thursday.
Canada police ask anti-vaccine truckers to leave or face arrest
The police in Ottawa, the capital of Canada, has asked truck drivers blockading the city to leave “immediately” or face arrest.
The development comes after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked an emergency measure to respond to the ongoing anti-government trucker protests.
“You must leave the area now,” a brochure distributed to the protesters reads.
“Anyone blocking streets, or assisting others in the blocking (of) streets, are committing a criminal offence and you may be arrested. You must immediately cease further unlawful activity or you will face charges.”
The demonstration tagged “Freedom Convoy” began on January 9 over a new rule stipulating that all truckers must be vaccinated to cross the US-Canada border.
Efforts to end the demonstration failed as the protests grew to include ending all such mandates nationwide.
Singapore reopens border after hiatus owing to Omicron variant
Singapore has announced plans to resume border reopening after a hiatus owing to the outbreak of the Omicron COVID variant.
The south-eastern Asian country says plans are underway to expand quarantine-free travel to Hong Kong, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates before the end of February.
The government would simplify border controls for all travellers and eliminate the need for entry approval for eligible citizens with long-term visas, the ministry of health said.
Nigeria reports 13 infections
Nigeria has continued to record a daily decline in the number of COVID-19 cases.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) says 13 new infections were logged on Wednesday in four states.
A breakdown of the infections showed that Rivers recorded seven cases, Nasarawa logged four infections while Abia and Taraba reported one case each.
The agency said Wednesday’s report includes one case logged in Taraba state on February 9.
Seven persons were discharged after they recovered from the infection on Wednesday. And no fatality was recorded.
Going by the newly reported infections, Nigeria now has a total of 254,137 cases, 230,479 recoveries and 3,141 deaths.
COVID: US need to start ‘inching’ back to normalcy, says Fauci
Anthony Fauci, White House chief medical adviser, says it is time the United States start “inching” back to normalcy despite the continuing concern of the pandemic.
Fauci spoke in an interview with Reuters on Wednesday.
“There is no perfect solution to this,” he said.
“The fact that the world and the United States and particularly certain parts of the United States are just up to here with COVID – they just really need to somehow get their life back.
“You don’t want to be reckless and throw everything aside, but you’ve got to start inching towards that.”
COVID cases declined by 19 percent globally last week, says WHO
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says the number of new COVID cases declined by 19 percent globally last week.
The agency, however, said the number of fatalities remained stable.
WHO said over 16 million new COVID-19 infections and about 75,000 deaths were reported globally last week.
The United Nations health agency said all COVID variants, including Alpha, Beta and Delta, are declining globally as Omicron crowds them out.
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