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)-California is granting early release to 3,500 inmates in an effort to reduce crowding as coronavirus infections begin spreading through the state prison system. Lawyers for Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday told a panel of federal judges the state is taking “extraordinary and unprecedented protective measures” to slow the spread of the…
LAGOS APRIL 1ST (NEWSRANGERS)-The minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Farouk, said the ministry has commenced the transfer of cash to poorest households in the country. Addressing a press briefing organised by the presidential task force on Coronavirus in Abuja on Monday, the Minister said the measure was aimed at cushioning…
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…