LAGOS APRIL 2ND (NEWSRANGERS)-A Russian military transport plane is on its way to the US, carrying medical equipment and other supplies required to fight the coronavirus pandemic. The shipment, cited by many as a public relations coup for Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, began on Wednesday following a telephone conversation with US President Donald Trump forty-three…
LAGOS APRIL 2ND (NEWSRANGERS)-Dutch officials have recalled tens of thousands of masks imported from China and distributed to hospitals battling the coronavirus outbreak because they do not meet quality standards. They received a delivery of masks from a Chinese manufacturer on March 21, the health ministry said in a statement. The masks did not…
LAGOS APRIL 2ND (NEWSRANGERS)-The Nigerian Union of Allied Health Professionals has told the Federal Government to pay health workers fighting the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) N100,000 special hazard allowance. The union also demanded life insurance cover for health workers. In a statement jointly signed by the National President of the union, Dr Obinna Ogbonna, and…
LAGOS APRIL 1ST (NEWSRANGERS)-Jacques Joaquim Yhombi-Opango, former president of the Republic of the Congo, has died after contracting coronavirus, his family said. Yhombi-Opango died in a Paris hospital on Monday. He was 81. Yhombi-Opango was ill before he contracted the virus, his son told AFP news agency. He led Congo-Brazzaville from 1977 until he was toppled in 1979,…
LAGOS APRIL 1ST (NEWSRANGERS)-World Health Organization officials Monday said they still recommend people not wear face masks unless they are sick with Covid-19 or caring for someone who is sick. “There is no specific evidence to suggest that the wearing of masks by the mass population has any potential benefit. In fact, there’s some evidence…
LAGOS APRIL 1ST (NEWSRANGERS)-South Africa, which has the highest numbers of confirmed coronavirus infections on the continent, will start mass door-to-door screening and testing for coronavirus, President Cyril Ramaphosa said Monday. The “unprecedented” exercise will be launched in the next few days, with at least 10,000 field workers deployed across the country of 57 million…
LAGOS APRIL 1ST (NEWRANGERS)-A senior Saudi official urged more than 1 million Muslims intending to perform the hajj to delay making plans this year in comments suggesting the pilgrimage could be cancelled due to the new coronavirus pandemic. In February, the kingdom took the extraordinary decision to close off the holy cities of Mecca and…
LAGOS APRIL 1ST (NEWSRANGERS)-Former Marseille president Pape Diouf has died at age 68 due to complications from Covid-19. Diouf had been hospitalised in his native Senegal and was placed under respiratory assistance on Saturday after his illness became serious. The Senegal native’s relatives had hoped to transport him to France to receive further medical attention but…