…As India tops a million coronavirus cases after pandemic hits villages***
While the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) reported 595 new COVID-19 cases in the country, shooting total infections from the virus to 34,854, India on Friday, became the third country in the world to record more than one million coronavirus cases, behind only the United States and Brazil.
The NCDC made this known on its official twitter handle on Thursday, saying that, as at July 16, 595 new confirmed cases and nine deaths were recorded in the country.
According to it, till date, 34,854 cases have been confirmed, 14,292 cases have been discharged and 769 deaths have been recorded in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
The health agency said that the 595 new cases were reported from 24 states, Lagos (156), Ondo (95), Rivers (53), Abia (43), Oyo (38), Enugu (29), Edo (24), FCT (23) and Kaduna (20).
Others were Akwa Ibom (17), Anambra (17), Osun (17), Ogun (14), Kano (13), Imo (11), Delta (6), Ekiti (5), Gombe (4), Plateau (4), Cross River (2), Adamawa (1), Bauchi (1), Jigawa (1), and Yobe (1).
Nigerian government aimed to reduce fatalities by ensuring that those citizens defined as vulnerable to COVID-19 were offered protection by prioritising them for advice on non-pharmaceutical measures.
“Countries in the world, including the most liberal in Europe, are now making masks mandatory for people who use public transport and even outdoors and they are imposing a fine for non-compliance.
“It is therefore still important, for us not to give up, but to continue to practice these measures, especially using facemasks, physical distancing and imbibing social courtesies like not sneezing or coughing into open space, but into a tissue,” it advised.
Also read: Nigeria announces 643 new cases of COVID-19, total infections now 34,259
NCDC noted that as the numbers continue to rise in the phase of community transmission, Nigeria, like many other countries had hardly any other tool left, than to focus on the value of non-pharmaceutical measures for prevention.
It said that the vulnerable would also be prioritised for admission to observation or treatment centers, even if they do not yet have symptoms.
“In this regard, it does not help for anyone to continue to deny the presence of COVID-19 in our communities, or to test its virulence by engaging in risky behavior. The consequences can be dire,” it said.
The health agency urged all shops, businesses, service centers and places authorised to open to the public, to require that their customers and visitors use masks and adhere to these simple measures or else they should be denied entry.
“It is also important to state for clarity that masks must cover the mouth and nose, that a mask pushed under the chin is not effective and should not be under the chin for any reason.
”That we need the mask most, when we are speaking, and it should therefore not be removed to speak, that wearing a face shield alone has not been proven to offer the same protection as a mask and should either be combined with a mask or totally left to healthcare providers, for whom they were actually intended,” it explained.
In another development, India on Friday became the third country in the world to record more than one million coronavirus cases, behind only the United States and Brazil.
This is as infections spread further out into the countryside and smaller towns.
For India’s population of around 1.3 billion, experts say a million cases are still low and the number will rise significantly in the coming months as testing is expanded.
India recorded 34,956 new infections on Friday, taking the total so far to 1.004 million, with 25,602 deaths from COVID-19, Federal Health Ministry data showed.
That compares to some 3.6 million cases in the U.S. and two million in Brazil – both countries with populations under 400 million.
Epidemiologists say India is still likely months away from hitting its peak of cases, suggesting the country’s already overburdened healthcare system will come under further strain.
“In the coming months, we are bound to see more and more cases, and that is the natural progression of any pandemic,’’ said Giridhar Babu, epidemiologist at the non-profit Public Health Foundation of India.
“As we move forward, the goal has to be lower mortality… a critical challenge states will face is how to rationally allocate hospital beds,’’ he said.
The last four months of the pandemic sweeping India have exposed severe gaps in the country’s healthcare system, which is one of the most poorly funded and has for years lacked enough doctors or hospital beds.
The Indian government has defended a strict lockdown it imposed in March to contain the virus spread, saying it helped keep death rates low and allowed time to beef up the healthcare infrastructure.
But public health experts say shortages remain and could hit hard in the coming months.
“As a public health measure, I don’t think the lockdown had much impact.
“It just delayed the virus spread,’’ said Dr Kapil Yadav, Assistant Professor of Community Medicine at New Delhi’s Premier All India Institute of Medical Sciences.
A million cases so far recorded likely left out many asymptomatic ones, he said.
“It’s a gross underestimate.’’
Millions of migrant workers, left stranded in the cities by the lockdown in March, took long journeys home on foot, some dying on the way while others left without work or wages.
Several states, including Bihar in the east, to which many of the migrants returned, have witnessed a surge in cases in recent weeks as the lockdown has been eased to salvage a sagging economy.
Babu estimates India won’t see a single nationwide peak.
“The surges are shifting from one place to another, so we cannot say there will be one peak for the whole country.
“In India, it’s going to be a sustained plateau for some time and then it will go down.’’
