595 new cases of coronavirus have been recorded in Nigeria as confirmed by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
A breakdown of the new cases across states in the country is as follows: Lagos-156 Ondo-95 Rivers-53 Abia-43 Oyo-38 Enugu-29 Edo-24 FCT-23 Kaduna-20 Akwa Ibom-17 Anambra-17 Osun-17 Ogun-14 Kano-13 Imo-11 Delta-6 Ekiti-5 Gombe-4 Plateau-4 Cross River-2 Adamawa-1 Bauchi-1 Jigawa-1 Yobe-1.
There are now 34,854 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the country, and 769 deaths has been recorded. 14,292 patients have also been discharged after recovering from the disease.
A breakdown of cases by state can be found via https://t.co/zQrpNeOfet#TakeResponsibility pic.twitter.com/YCXWLixzF7
— NCDC (@NCDCgov) July 16, 2020
The Commissioner for Health in Plateau, Nimkong Lar, has said that 57 health workers were infected with COVID-19 in the course of their duties in various health centres in the state.
Lar stated this at a press briefing after an executive council meeting on Wednesday in Jos, The Punch reports.
He said that they were workers managing COVID-19 patients in primary health centres, hospitals and private clinics across the state.
He noted that the state was organising community testing in the 17 Local Government Areas which was voluntary, adding that it had scheduled conducting a test for the government and Non-Governmental Organisations.
The Lagos State Government has opened a 48 chamber morgue at the Infectious Diseases Hospital, Yaba, which hosts one of the isolation centres in the state.
According to The Punch, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu said the morgue would serve the entire state during the inauguration of the facility.
Sanwo-Olu said,
“I recall that in April, we experienced congestion in mortuary capacity in Lagos State. The fact that the COVID-19 lockdown coincided with the end of Lent that month deprived many families of the chance to bury their loved ones. And we had to open a special window for funerals to take place, so as to decongest the mortuaries. Even though those were exceptional circumstances, it was clear from that experience that Lagos could do with an expansion in its morgue capacity.”
He commended a private telecommunications firm, IHS Towers, for donating the facility to the government and urged other corporate organisations to support the fight against coronavirus.
American Airlines has announced that the company will issue notices to 25,000 employees that they could be laid off on October 1 2020.
Although the number of layoffs may be minimized through voluntary departures, the airline will have more than 20,000 excess workers on payroll due to a profound downturn in business caused by the coronavirus pandemic, two top executives said in a memo to employees, The Punch reports.
Like other major airlines, the executives said the cost-cutting would be needed due to lackluster ticket sales amid fading hopes for a speedy bounce back in travel from COVID-19.
The executives said,
“With infection rates increasing and several states reestablishing quarantine restrictions, demand for air travel is slowing again.”
The airline hopes to,
“reduce the actual number of furloughs significantly through enhanced leave and early-out programs for represented workgroups, which we are announcing today.”
Brazil’s health ministry reported 45,403 new cases of novel coronavirus on Thursday, bringing the nationwide total to 2,012,151, CNN reports.
The ministry also reported 1,322 new COVID-19 fatalities, bringing the national death toll to 76,688.
Peru’s Ministry of Health reported at least 3,862 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, bringing the total number of cases in the country to at least 341,586.
According to CNN, the ministry also reported 198 additional, bringing the country’s total to at least 12,615.
Peru has been the second hardest-hit country by the novel coronavirus in Latin America and the Caribbean after Brazil.
There are at least 3,560,364 cases of coronavirus in the US and at least 138,201 people have died from the virus in the country, according to Johns Hopkins University, CNN reports.
So far on Thursday, Johns Hopkins recorded 61,462 new cases and 786 reported deaths. The totals include cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories.
According to CNN, authorities in Colombia recorded 8,037 new coronavirus cases on Thursday and 251 deaths. The new numbers bring the total number of cases for the country to 173,206 and the number of deaths to 6,029.
More than 76,000 people have recovered from the virus so far.
