Frontpage News (3256)
Vitamin D could ward off COVID-19 infections, Oxford, Princeton researchers say
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Experts from Oxford to Princeton have signed an open letter to global governments arguing vitamin D could ward off coronavirus infections, disease and even deaths.
The letter, sent to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and health secretary Matt Hancock on Monday, called for healthy adults to up their daily vitamin D intake to at least 2,000 international units, or 50 micrograms, amid the pandemic.
New Variant Of COVID-19 May Incapacitate Current Vaccines, Experts Warn
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Medical experts have warned that the emergence of a new variant of COVID-19, which is 70 per cent more contagious, could affect effectiveness of current vaccines. The fresh disease has shown face in United Kingdom and a couple of other nations.
To avert putting the entire national immunisation programme in jeopardy, they advised the Federal Government to prioritise local production of the therapy. This comes as President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, charged the Federal Government to ensure thorough product review before consumption.
The World Health Organization in Europe said Tuesday it would convene its members to discuss how to handle a new variant of the novel coronavirus discovered in the UK.
Hans Kluge, WHO’s regional director for Europe said on Twitter that the organisation was closely monitoring the spread of the new variant and would “convene member states to discuss strategies for testing, reducing transmission & communicating risks,” without specifying a timeframe.
Excruciating back pain, hidden symptom of COVID-19 many people don’t know -Survivor
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Hollywood celebrity and famous talk show host, Ellen Degeneres, who tested positive for COVID-19 recently, says there are some unusual symptoms of COVID-19, such as excruciating back pain, that many people are not are aware.She based the assertion on her experience and recovery from the viral infection.
Degeneres, 62, had, on December 10, announced that she had tested positive for COVID-19. Sharing her experience in a new video posted on Twitter @TheEllenShow, she said, “One thing that they don’t tell you is that you get, somehow, excruciating back pain. “Didn’t know that was a symptom, but I talked to some other people —back pain. Who knew? How come? Back pain. Bad.”
100m Nigerians to receive COVID-19 vaccine by March -NCDC
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The Nigerian Centre for Disease Control says over 100 million Nigerians would have received the COVID-19 vaccine by March 2021. This was stated by the NCDC Director-General, Chikwe Ihekweazu, while speaking on Channels TV Sunrise Daily programme on Thursday.
Ihekweazu expressed confidence in the COVID-19 vaccine saying Nigeria has been able to eliminate polio and fight smallpox through vaccines. He said, “No medical intervention, not one, has saved more lives since the beginning of mankind than vaccination.
National Coordinator of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Sani Aliyu, says the COVID-19 vaccine will be administered to Nigerians free of charge by the time vaccination begins. He disclosed this during an interview on Channels Television’s breakfast programme, Sunrise Daily, on Wednesday.
The PTF coordinator said approval has been given by the presidency to that effect, noting that the COVID-19 vaccine will be available in Nigeria on the platform of the GAVI arrangement.
‘Why a single drug compounding error can kill hundreds of patients’
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The Deputy Director of Pharmacy Department, National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi, Lagos, Kingsley Ekwunife says pharmacists involved in drug compounding must continue to be diligent, noting that any error from them can result in deaths of many patients.
Ekwunife said where a doctor can be excused for making a prescription mistake, an industrial pharmacist cannot be pardoned for committing an error in drug production or compounding.
Pregnant Women Unlikely To Transmit COVID-19 To Newborns - Study
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Pregnant women with COVID-19 during the third trimester are unlikely to pass the virus to their newborns, according to a research conducted in the United States of America. The study, led by Dr Andrea Edlow of the Harvard Medical School was published in the journal, JAMA Network Open.
According to the publication, the study followed 127 pregnant women admitted to Boston hospitals during the spring of 2020. Among the 64 pregnant women who contracted SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, no newborns tested positive, the study said.
First set of people to get COVID-19 vaccine, according to Mamora
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The Federal Government has put in place a technical committee to look into the priority list of those to be considered for early COVID-19 vaccination. Minister of State for Health, Dr. Olorunnimbe Mamora, stated this on Thursday [today] during the joint national briefing of Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 in Abuja.
He said the group might focus primarily on the elderly in society, frontline health workers and people with comorbidity, among others. “At the moment, we have a technical group looking at issues surrounding COVID-19 vaccines.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Thursday [today] detailed his experience with COVID-19 as he recovered from the contagion. Sanwo-Olu, while narrating his experience with journalists at the State House in Marina, Lagos, said he had headache, sore throat and cough.
“It was not mild. I was not asymptomatic. I felt all of the things you would feel – headache, sore throat, cough, tiredness, I felt them. It’s real.” “When they tell you to check your oxygen level, these are real facts that people need to know. “There is something they call it in medical term; you will not know that you are on reserve.
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Don’t shut down COVID-19 treatment centres yet, FG tells states
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The Federal Government has made a passionate appeal to relevant state ministries of health to avoid shutting COVID-19 treatment centres across the country.
Secretary to the Government of the Federation and Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha, made the appeal on Thursday [today] during the joint national briefing of the PTF in Abuja. While expressing the determination of the Federal Government to pursue the issue of vaccines in a safe, effective and cost-friendly manner,
FG suspends 100 passports of passengers who refused post-arrival COVID-19 test
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The Federal Government has suspended the passports of 100 in-bound airline passengers who failed to take the second test of COVID-19 after arriving in the country. Mr. Boss Mustapha, Chairman, Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, disclosed this at the Presidential Taskforce National Briefing on Tuesday, in Abuja.
Mustapha, also, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, said that the names of the passengers would be published on Jan. 1, 2021, while the suspension of the passports would last for six months. “With effect from January 1, 2021, passports of the first 100 passengers, who failed to take their day-seven post-arrival polymerase chain reaction test, would be published in the national dailies,” he said.
Toenail colour, shape of feet can reveal underlying illness
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A Consultant Family Physician at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, Dr. Olujimi Sodipo, says the way a person’s feet and nails look can reveal underlying medical conditions and the true state of health. She notes that by merely examining the feet, several useful clues that could be indications of some ailments, including diabetes and arthritis, could be identified.
According to him, the shape and appearance of the feet and toes can offer important diagnostic clues to one’s health condition. “There is supposed to be a normal shape of the feet and, of course, there are some normal variants that also occur.
Virologists and other health experts on Wednesday warned that low COVID-19 testing by state governments was dangerous to the battle against coronavirus. The experts stated this in separate interviews with The PUNCH as the Nigerian Medical Association attributed the recent surge in coronavirus cases to the reopening of schools without necessary preparations.
Recall that the Federal Government had on Tuesday lamented that despite resources available to states, COVID-19 testing they were conducting was still low.
