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COVID-19 pandemic

Hunger looms after 8 days of lockdown: Chinese city Cries for Help

by Leading Reporters January 1, 2022

written by Leading Reporters

As the city of Xian in northwest China, with a population of 13 million, enters its eighth day of lockdown in an effort to manage the current cluster of COVID-19 infections, many residents are running out of food.

According to the National Health Commission, 156 new locally transmitted cases were registered nationally on Wednesday, up from 151 the day before.

155 of them were in Xian, while one was in Guangxi’s southern region.

On Wednesday, 51 imported cases were discovered in addition to the local transmissions.

Since December 9, 1,117 cases have been reported in Xian, which has a population of 13 million people.

A new round of mass testing began at 10 a.m. on Thursday, and all public activities in the city, which is famous for its Terracotta Warriors, have been prohibited.

At a news conference on Wednesday, Zhang Fenghu, a city government official, said, “Xian has reached a live-or-die stage in its fight against the virus,”

Despite the low case count in Xian compared with many clusters overseas, officials have imposed tough curbs on travel within and out of the city since Dec. 23, as Beijing demands each outbreak be contained quickly.

Many residents have been prohibited from leaving their homes unless they are taking COVID-19 tests or attending to essential matters as determined by local authorities.

These restrictions have limited access to basic necessities, leaving many people reliant on deliveries rather than going out to shop.

According to a Xian government official on Wednesday, the limits have resulted in a staffing shortage at organisations responsible for assuring the supply of basic essentials, and the government is working to resolve the problem.

(With inputs from agencies)

January 1, 2022 0 comments

Upsurge in COVID-19 Cases as Lagos

by Leading Reporters August 10, 2021

written by Leading Reporters

Lagos State witnessed an upsurge in the daily new COVID-19 cases as the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), reported additional 422 infections on August 9, 2021.

The NCDC made this known via its verified website on Tuesday morning.

It confirmed that the additional 422 cases were from nine states and the FCT.

The agency said that Lagos state was standing at a dire inflection point, with the coronavirus cases surging and most of its population not yet fully vaccinated.

Driving the latest wave was the highly contagious Delta variant with Lagos continuing to report more than half of the daily cases in the country.

The state recorded the highest cases with 190 out of the 422 additional Infections.

The public health agency tracking the coronavirus case surges in states across the country said that the additional coronavirus cases were rising across the country with 86 in Rivers.

Ogun recorded 85, Oyo, 22, while FCT had 20,

Kwara had 7, Edo, 5, Abia, 4, and Bayelsa, 3.

The NCDC announced that 219 people had recovered and were discharged from various isolation centres in the country on Saturday.

August 10, 2021 0 comments

Headlines

NHGSFP: We have fed nearly 10 million pupils – FG

by Leading Reporters May 29, 2021

written by Leading Reporters

Kenny Folarin, Abuja

The Minister of Humanitarian, Affairs Disaster Management and Social Development Hajia Umar Farouq has said that the federal government has fed nearly 10 million pupils and engaged 100,000 cook under the National Home Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP).

Farouq while speaking in Abuja on Tuesday at the Hand Over of Home Grown School Feeding Utensils and Aprons to the Federal Capital Territory explained that the purpose of the distribution of the utensils is to ensure that targets pupils have experience of integrity and safety during the consumption of their free meal as being provided by the federal government.

“In line with this am happy to announce that we have so far recorded feeding nearly 10 million pupils across the country and also engage over 100,000 cook.
Also massive employment opportunity are being created within the school feeding prgramme in area of transportation, energy supply, and food material packages.”

According to farouq, the National Home Grown School Feeding Programme aim at reducing poverty in collaboration between the federal and state government where the federal government is responsible for funding, making policy and guideline and conduct of close monitoring while the state carry out day-to-day implementation and procurement of the items including selection of vendors.

She added that the federal government is highly committed to this intervention which is why the school feeding programme is still on across the nation despite shortfall from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, farouq stated that the ministry had earlier handed over 70, 000 sets of utensils which include forks, and cutleries for the pupils and over 1500 aprons to the cook, however hope that all this will be put to good use.

Furthermore, she promised that the federal government will continue to roll out policies and strategies that will be able to strengthen, sustain and scale up the programmes as well as other social investment programme.

National Coordinator, National Social Investment Programme, Dr. Umar Bindir on his part noted that idea of the Home Grown Feeding Utensils aims at ensuring that children have clean stainless utensils to use so that the feeding procedure does not have an unhealthy environment.

Bindir stated that the National Home Grown School Feeding Programme captures 10 million children in Nigeria and as far as the ministry is concerned, the approval the minister has gotten from Mr. President is that every child has the clean stainless utensils to ensure that while they are feeding they are also fed healthily.

He added that with the feeding programme, enrollment has increased and in terms of percentage, initially 15-20% but we are now talking about 30-40%, “as we go, we hope to eliminate out-of-school syndrome in Nigeria”. He added.

May 29, 2021 0 comments

Headlines

Nigeria eyes $3 billion Eurobond sale to fund budget deficits after sixth sale

by Leading Reporters May 19, 2021

written by Leading Reporters

Nigeria plans to issue $3 billion or more in Eurobonds as international capital markets (ICM) open up and interest rates decline, the government said on Tuesday, after the coronavirus pandemic disrupted markets last year.

The West African country had planned a Eurobond issue early last year after its sixth sale in 2018, but it decided to defer the 2020 sale due to market turmoil caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In April, the head of the debt office told Reuters the government was looking to pick advisers.

“The plan is to raise the sum of $6.183 billion from a combination of sources,” President Muhammadu Buhari said in a letter to parliament seeking approval for the debt raise.

“From recent trends in the ICM, it is now possible for Nigeria to raise funds in the ICM. We estimate that Nigeria may be able to raise $3 billion or more, but not more than $6.183 billion in a combination of tenors between five to 30-years.”

Nigeria emerged from its second recession since 2016 in the fourth quarter, but growth is fragile. The government expects a 2021 budget deficit of 5.60 trillion Naira to be financed largely from foreign and local borrowings.

Buhari said it wanted to moderate debt service costs by accessing relatively cheaper funds abroad, especially as global interest rates fall below 2020 levels while local rates begin to rise.

In February, the West African country said it would trim offshore borrowing to 30% of its total loans from 40% currently, in a bid to strengthen domestic markets.

Nigeria has been in talks with the World Bank for a $1.5 billion loan, but approvals have been delayed due to concerns over reforms to its currency.

Last week, the country let its Naira weaken on the official market against the dollar in a possible move by the central bank to unify its numerous exchange rates.

May 19, 2021 0 comments