Nigeria needs $330 million for coronavirus battle, turns to private sector


ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria has appealed to private companies to make voluntary contributions towards the 120 billion naira ($330 million) the government says it needs to fight the coronavirus epidemic.


Two men with protective face mask walks past a poster at Wuse market, as the authorities try to limit the spread of coronavirus in Abuja, Nigeria March 27, 2020. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde

“So far, the federal government has made giant strides in the fight but it is clear that the private sector needs to step in and support efforts already being made,” Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele said.

The crash in oil prices, which have fallen by nearly two- thirds this year due in large part to a coronavirus-induced demand collapse, has seriously battered Nigeria’s finances.

Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed this week pledged 6.5 billion naira to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, and a further 10 billion naira for Lagos state, which has the bulk of the nation’s confirmed cases.


“To procure all needed equipment, material, and all infrastructure needed to fight this pandemic, over N120b need to be raised,” Emefiele said.

He has formed a coalition led by the Aliko Dangote Foundation and Access Bank that is already working to raise funds.

On Friday, Nigeria’s state oil company NNPC pledged $30 million, with the help of 33 oil companies, including international majors Royal Dutch Shell and ExxonMobil and Nigerian companies Oando, Lekoil and Seplat.

NNPC said it would offer more in partnership with downstream companies. That assistance, offered by companies, includes 200 ambulances, test kits and laboratory equipment, NNPC said in a tweet.


Bank UBA Group, led by Tony Elumelu, on Thursday pledged 1 billion naira to Nigeria as part of a broader 5 billion naira coronavirus donation. Other prominent Nigerians, including Dangote and five others, would ensure their organizations also contribute 1 billion naira each, Emefiele said.

As of Friday, Nigeria had 65 coronavirus cases and one death.

TRUMP MINI ME
Brazil's Bolsonaro says coronavirus deadly, but hunger also kills

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Friday returned to criticizing the lockdowns in major cities across the country, saying that the resulting hunger from the economic fallout could be more deadly than the coronavirus it was aimed at combating.

Bolsonaro said the Brazilian economy had been taking off before coronavirus hit.

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THE BEST HEALTHCARE MONEY CAN BUY

As U.S. virus cases exceed 100,000, doctors decry scarcity of drugs and equipment


NEW YORK, March 28 (Reuters) - The sum of known coronavirus U.S. cases soared well past 100,000, with more than 1,600 dead, as weary doctors and nurses coping with shortages resorted to extremes ranging from hiding scarce medical supplies to buying them on the black market.


American healthcare workers in the trenches of the pandemic appealed on Friday for more protective gear and equipment to treat a surge in patients that is already pushing hospitals to their limits in virus hot spots such as New York City, New Orleans and Detroit.

“We are scared,” said Dr. Arabia Mollette of Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center in New York City’s Brooklyn borough. “We’re trying to fight for everyone else’s life, but we also fight for our lives as well, because we’re also at the highest risk of exposure.”

Doctors are especially concerned about a shortage of ventilators, machines that help patients breathe and are widely needed for those suffering from COVID-19, the pneumonia-like respiratory ailment caused by the highly contagious novel coronavirus.

Hospitals have also sounded the alarm about scarcities of drugs, oxygen tanks and trained staff.

The number of confirmed U.S. infections rose by about 18,000 on Friday, the highest jump in a single day, to more than 103,000. The United States has led the world in coronavirus cases since its count of known infections eclipsed those of China and Italy on Thursday.


With at least 1,634 lives lost as of Friday night - also a record daily increase - the United States ranked sixth in national death tolls from the pandemic, according to a Reuters tabulation of official data.

As shortages of key medical supplies abounded, desperate physicians and nurses were forced to take matters into their own hands.

New York-area doctors say they have had to recycle some protective gear, or even resort to bootleg suppliers.

Dr. Alexander Salerno of Salerno Medical Associates in northern New Jersey described going through a “broker” to pay $17,000 for masks and other protective equipment that should have cost about $2,500, and picking them up at an abandoned warehouse.


Annette Johnson, outreach coordinator at Odyssey House Louisiana (OHL) which runs a drive-through testing site, has a consultation with a driver to see if she should be tested for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. March 27, 2020. REUTERS/Kathleen Flynn

“You don’t get any names. You get just phone numbers to text,” Salerno said. “And so you agree to a term. You wire the money to a bank account. They give you a time and an address to come to.”

Nurses at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York said they were locking away or hiding N-95 respirator masks, surgical masks and other supplies that are prone to pilfering if left unattended.

“Masks disappear,” nurse Diana Torres said. “We hide it all in drawers in front of the nurses’ station.”

One nurse at Westchester Medical Center, in the suburbs of the city, said colleagues have begun absconding with scarce supplies without asking, prompting better-stocked teams to lock masks, gloves and gowns in drawers and closets. (Full Story)


An emergency room doctor in Michigan, an emerging epicenter of the pandemic, said he was wearing one paper face mask for an entire shift due to a shortage and that hospitals in the Detroit area would soon run out of ventilators.

“We have hospital systems here in the Detroit area in Michigan who are getting to the end of their supply of ventilators and have to start telling families that they can’t save their loved ones because they don’t have enough equipment,” the physician, Dr. Rob Davidson, said in a video posted on Twitter.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday invoked emergency powers to require General Motors Co GM.N to start building ventilators after he accused the largest U.S. automaker of “wasting time” during negotiations.

He had previously resisted mounting calls for him to invoke the Defense Production Act, a Korean War-era statute that gives the president broad procurement powers in national emergencies.


Slideshow (17 Images)

Sophia Thomas, a nurse practitioner at DePaul Community Health Center in New Orleans, where Mardi Gras celebrations late last month fueled an outbreak in Louisiana’s largest city, said the numbers of coronavirus patients “have been staggering.”

“We are truly a hotbed of COVID-19 here in New Orleans,” she said, adding that her hospital was shifting some patients to “telehealth” services that allow them to be evaluated from home.

In the nation’s second-largest city, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said spiking cases were putting Southern California on track to match New York City’s infection figures in the next week.

Hospitals around the country are expected to receive some additional aid from a $2.2 trillion emergency relief bill given final passage by Congress on Friday, after days of wrangling, and signed into law by Trump. (Full Story)

The package will send cash to businesses and unemployed workers suffering from the effects of stay-at-home orders that have had the side effect of strangling the economy.

Coronavirus cases top half a million, protective gear lacking: WHO
Stephanie Nebehay, Kate Kelland


GENEVA/LONDON (Reuters) - Coronavirus has infected more than half a million people and killed more than 20,000 globally, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday, as he appealed again for protective gear for medical staff working to save lives.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, urged countries to refrain from using medicines that have not been demonstrated to be effective against COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.

“The chronic global shortage of personal protective gear is now one of most urgent threats to our collective ability to save lives,” Tedros told a Geneva news conference.

“Health workers in low- and middle-income countries deserve the same protection as those in the wealthiest countries,” he said, adding that the U.N. agency was shipping more supplies.

Dr. Mike Ryan, WHO’s top emergencies expert, said the world was “moving to an uncertain future”.

“You see many countries around the world are just beginning the cycle of this epidemic. Some have been through the cycle of the epidemic like Singapore and China and are now desperately trying not to have the disease re-emerge and cause another wave of infections because of disease importations,” he said.

Elderly people and those with underlying medical conditions have been the hardest hit, but 10 to 15% of people under the age of 50 have moderate to severe infection, Ryan said.

YOUNG PEOPLE NOT IMMUNE

Asked about reports of infections in young adults, Ryan said: “For most people it is a very mild infection, most young people. But for a significant minority of people between the age of 20 and 60 this is a significant infection.”

“What is really emerging is a perception that this disease, while not fatal and not causing critical disease in a younger age group, is causing severe illness in many people,” Ryan said.

Every infection of COVID-19 presents an opportunity for onward spread, said Dr. Maria van Kerkhove.

“So even in younger populations, if you do have a mild disease and you think it’s no big deal, what the big deal is is that you may transmit to somebody else who may be part of that vulnerable population who may advance to severe disease and who may die,” she said.

The data showed that “the majority of children that are infected are experiencing mild disease,” ver Kerkhove said.

“But we do have reports, and there are some publications now that describe severe disease in children. We have reports of deaths in children. There is one in China, and I believe one in the United States as well,” she said.


Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva and Kate Kelland in London; writing by Stephanie Nebehay, editing by Gareth Jones

Russia calls U.S. sanctions on Venezuela a 'tool of genocide' amid epidemic

CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia said on Friday U.S. “narco-terrorism” charges against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro were absurd, adding that sanctions on Caracas could become “a tool of genocide” amid the coronavirus outbreak.

The U.S. government on Thursday indicted Maduro and more than a dozen other top Venezuelan officials on charges of “narco-terrorism,” the latest escalation of the Trump administration’s pressure campaign aimed at ousting the socialist leader.


Russia, Maduro’s longtime political and financial backer, considers those accusations “absurd” and “wild” at a time when countries across the world join efforts to fight coronavirus, the Interfax news agency cited Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, as saying.

“We can not stress enough our call for an immediate lifting of unilateral unlawful sanctions that are turning in the current epidemic into an instrument of genocide,” Zakharova was quoted as saying.


Zakharova said Russia had supplied coronavirus test kits to Venezuela, which has reported 107 confirmed cases of the disease and that Moscow would continue helping Caracas to stop coronavirus spreading.

President Donald Trump denied that the charges were an attempt to take advantage of Venezuela at a vulnerable time when it is expected to be hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

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Mexican president's poll ratings hit record low in coronavirus crisis

THEY CALL AMLO A LIBERAL HE IS; A NEOLIBERAL

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Support for Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has fallen below 50% for the first time, hit by criticism of his response to the coronavirus crisis, public security concerns and a struggling economy, a daily tracking poll showed on Friday.


FILE PHOTO: Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador holds a news conference at the National Palace in Mexico City, Mexico, March 17, 2020. REUTERS/Henry Romero

The survey, by polling firm Consulta Mitofsky for newspaper El Economista, showed that Lopez Obrador’s approval rating had dropped to 49.6% from 50.1% a day earlier.

Roy Campos, the head of Mitofsky, said the coronavirus pandemic was “seriously affecting” support for Lopez Obrador, as was concern over the economic outlook.

“Just as there is fear of getting sick, there’s now fear about the economy,” Campos said.

Lopez Obrador, whose approval rating stood at 80% barely a year ago in some surveys, has suffered a steady decline in popularity since discontent over his reaction to highly publicized murders of women last month sparked protests.

The leftist, who took office in December 2018, has also come under fire for his handling of the coronavirus crisis since the first case of infection was confirmed in Mexico on Feb. 28.


While his medical experts urged people to avoid physical contact and stay at home to contain the spread of the virus, the president has continued to hold mass rallies around Mexico, shaking hands with, hugging and kissing supporters.

Over the past few days Lopez Obrador has struck a graver tone on the health crisis, encouraging people to avoid major gatherings, setting out how the government is closing down possible transmission avenues and spelling out the symptoms.

“So far the situation is controlled,” he told a regular government news conference on Friday, a day after Mexico’s tally of coronavirus cases rose to 585, with eight deaths.

Nevertheless, he has continued to blame adversaries for fanning public panic, and said he would carry on with his schedule of public events around Mexico with a tour of states in the Pacific west and northwest this weekend.

Meanwhile, Mexico tipped into recession during his first year in office, dragged down by a decline in investment spurred by concern over his unpredictable management of the economy.

Rating agency S&P downgraded Mexico’s credit rating on Thursday, flagging concern over the outlook.


Some private sector economists say the Mexican economy could contract by as much as 7% this year.

At the end of 2019, Lopez Obrador had the support of more than 59% of respondents in the Mitofsky tracking poll.

UK's Royal Mint making coronavirus protective gear for health staff


LONDON (Reuters) - The Royal Mint, the world’s largest maker and supplier of coins, said on Friday it has started manufacturing visors for Britain’s medical staff to protect them from coronavirus.


FILE PHOTO: Medical staff with a patient at the back of an ambulance outside St Thomas's hospital as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues in London, Britain, March 26, 2020. REUTERS/Hannah McKay

Engineers at the Mint created the visors after finding a basic design online and developing medically approved prototypes within 48 hours at their production site in Wales.

The first visors are already in use at a hospital in Wales and mass production will start on Saturday morning, with several hundred coming on the first day and increasing numbers after that.

The Mint says it can produce thousands of visors per day if it can get enough parts and is now appealing to manufacturers across the UK to help it source enough clear plastic, which is currently in short supply.


The simple design comprises a clear plastic shield which covers the worker’s face, held in place by a piece of elastic.

Britain’s publicly funded national health service, the NHS, has received much public support during the coronavirus outbreak, with government health authorities adopting the slogan “Stay Home, Protect The NHS, Save Lives”.

People all over the country took to their balconies and doorsteps on Thursday evening to applaud health workers who are battling the spread of the coronavirus.

“My sister works for the NHS and it really focuses your mind on the challenges they are facing,” said Leighton John, director of operations at the Royal Mint.


“We set our engineers the task of developing essential medical equipment which could be easily made on site – within seven hours they’d created a medical visor, and within 48 hours it was approved for mass manufacture,” John said.

As the virus sweeps the country, the Mint is the latest in a number of companies taking on new operations as part of a nationwide effort to support the NHS.

Vacuum cleaner company Dyson was recruited to supply hospitals with 10,000 medical ventilators designed at breakneck speed ahead of an expected surge of cases, and outsourcer Capita announced on Friday it was working with the government to provide coronavirus testing sites.

EU says Britain had chance to join ventilator procurement scheme

BREXIT ISOLATIONIST NATIONALISM LIKE TRUMPISM

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Britain was given a chance to participate in a European Union scheme to buy ventilators to fight the coronavirus, the EU said on Friday, after London said it had not joined because it missed the invitation in an e-mail mixup.


A graphic representation of CoVent ventilator attached to a hospital bed, designed by Dyson, is seen attached to a hospital bed, in this undated handout image. DYSON/Handout via REUTERS

The EU launched a joint procurement procedure on March 17 to buy ventilators on behalf of 25 members states, in a bid to cut prices and reduce competition among EU nations seeking the machines which help coronavirus patients breathe and are in short supply.

Britain, which is entitled to participate in such schemes under an 11-month transition deal since leaving the EU in January, did not join it.

That attracted criticism at home from opponents who accused the government of prioritizing “Brexit over breathing” - so determined to act independently of the bloc that it would risk public health in the coronavirus crisis.

A British government spokesman said on Thursday London had not rejected the scheme deliberately, but had stayed out because it missed the invitation, due to an e-mail mixup. Britain would consider joining such joint procurement schemes in the future.

However, an EU spokesman said on Friday British officials had attended several meetings at which the scheme was discussed, and Britain had been given a chance to say if it wanted to be included.

Schemes to buy ventilators and other medical gear were “discussed several times in the meetings of the health security committee where the UK participated,” the spokesman said.


“Member states and the UK had the opportunity to signal their interest to participate in any joint procurement” at the meetings and via an EU communication system, he said.

The EU is analyzing offers received on Thursday on the procurement for ventilators, the EU spokesman said.

Offers were also received this week for an earlier EU procurement for face masks, gloves and visors for medical staff launched a month ago. If contracts are signed, goods could be received in coming weeks.

UK says working at pace on ventilator production plan

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain said it was working fast on plans to build more ventilators to help handle the coronavirus outbreak, hoping manufacturers can build larger amounts and do so more speedily.

“The prime minister spoke to a dozen of the companies involved to thank them for all their work so far and to discuss ways that the Government could support them to build ventilators more quickly and in greater quantities for the frontline in the coming weeks,” Boris Johnson’s Downing Street office said.

Some companies are also working on new designs.

“Any new orders are all dependent on machines passing regulatory tests, but the Government, manufacturers and regulators are working at pace to drive this work forward,” the government said.

FOUR GRAMMY AWARDS WINNER 2020 BILLIE EILISH 

World's worst air adds to Serbian capital's coronavirus woes

BELGRADE (Reuters) - Belgrade’s residents on Friday isolated themselves not only from coronavirus but also from acrid smoke, which defied strong winds to transform the Serbian capital into the city with the world’s most polluted air.

The Air Visual API website, which compiles data from ground sensors worldwide, ranked the Serbian capital temporarily at the top of its global index of cities with the worst air pollution.

Belgrade’s pollution level later fell to fourth, behind Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia, Zagreb in Croatia, and Chiang Mai in Thailand.

Local researchers say that domestic heating and industry, including decades-old coal-fired power plants which provide most of Serbia’s energy, emit almost three-quarters of the country’s polluting air particles.

In January hundreds of protesters took to Belgrade’s streets demanding the government tackle severe air pollution throughout the European Union candidate country.

In a statement, Ne Davimo Beograd (Let’s Not Drown Belgrade), a local rights and environment watchdog, said that the main cause of the latest pollution could be a smouldering fire at the sprawling Vinca landfill, about 20 km (12 miles) east of the city center.


Radomir Lazovic, one of the organization’s leading activists, said that air pollution could aggravate the condition of people with pulmonary diseases, which are particularly susceptible to coronavirus infection.

“According to estimates ... (by doctors), there are around 1 million of these people in Serbia,” Lazovic told Reuters.

In a statement, the ministry for environmental protection said that along with small heating plants and domestic heating, dust was the main contributor to most recent pollution.


“After melting of snow and drying of the surface (soil), a strong wind led to re-emission of the (dust) particles into ... the lower layers of atmosphere,” the ministry said.

So far, the coronavirus infection in Serbia has sickened 528 and killed eight people.

Officials from Belgrade’s waste disposal company and city hall who are responsible for the landfill could not immediately be reached for comment.