Coronavirus: Five patients discharged in Lagos; Makinde tests positive; Prince Charles ends self-isolation; NAFDAC orders manufacturing of Chloroquine for clinical trial; Immunologist speaks on hot water; Rep urges Buhari not to marginalise Oyo; Nigerian Breweries postpones 2019 AGM

Lagos State Government, on Monday, discharged five coronavirus patients who were admitted to and treated at the Infectious Disease Centre, Yaba Mainland Hospital.
 
The survivors are four males and one female, bringing the total number of survivors from the centre to eight.
 
The survivors were quarantined and treated at the isolation centre for two weeks after testing positive for the coronavirus.
 
The survivors who preferred to remain anonymous looked stable and unruffled, saying they felt very happy they had been given a clean bill of health.
 
They expressed joy and satisfaction with the State Government and Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu over the treatments they received at the isolation centre and his proactive approach towards the containment of the virus.
 
One of the survivors ( names withheld) said, “I came in here on the 15th and after the test showed positive, I was asked to come back the next day. I was admitted here same day.
 
“Initially, there were hitches but it later turned out fine. The health workers did fine, all our challenges were attended to. I’m a living witness together with my other colleagues.”
 
The discharged patient gave an assurance that testing positive for COVID-19 is not a death sentence, advising people not to panic as the virus could be defeated.
 
“We can beat it, I want to assure others that this is not their resting place. Encourage yourselves, take your medications and in no distant time, you will get out of here.
 
“I want to appeal to the Federal Government and Lagos State government that, they should remunerate all those workers who have volunteered to work accordingly, so as to serve as encouragement to others, adding that, “If they are not here as first responders, many patients would have died.”
 
Another survivor said, “I was admitted last Sunday. Initially there were challenges, the following day, they brought bed, mask and some equipment.
 
“Apart from what my colleague said, the workers should be insured. Proper insurance will let people do what they have to do.
 
He narrated a scenario where the workers could not attend to him because he tested positive, saying “they went back and I slept off, I woke up around 3a.m. So they deserve life insurance to encourage them to do their job.”
 
Meanwhile Governor Sanwo-Olu has received the news of the full recovery of the five patients with excitement.
 
The Governor, in a short message reassured Lagosians that the Government is doing all within her powers to curtail the spread of the virus so that life could return to normal.
 
He said: “we are very excited to hear that five of our citizens in the isolation centre have regained full recovery. It is another pointer to us that with a concerted effort, we can defeat the coronavirus in Lagos and Nigeria.”
Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State has been confirmed positive of the Coronavirus disease.
Makinde on Monday confirmed this on his personal twitter handle.
The governor, who claimed to be asymptomatic, promised to continue to remain in self isolation.
“I just received my COVID-19 confirmation test result. It is POSITIVE. I am asymptomatic and will continue to self-isolate.
“I have designated Prof. Temitope Alonge, former Chief Medical Director of the University College, Ibadan, as the Head of COVID-19 Task Force while I recover fully.
” Please continue to comply with all the directives from the COVID-19 Task Force. Stay home, stay safe,” he had tweeted.
Makinde’s confirmation had increased the tally of confirmed cases in the state to eight.
Britain’s Prince Charles has ended his self-isolation following his positive test for the novel coronavirus, his office said.
“Having consulted with his doctor, the Prince of Wales is now out of self-isolation,” Clarence House said, using another of Charles’ royal titles.
Clarence House reported on Wednesday that Charles, 71, had tested positive for Covid-19 after suffering “mild symptoms.”
It did not say when he first reported the symptoms.
“It is not possible to ascertain from whom the prince caught the virus owing to the high number of engagements he carried out in his public role during recent weeks,” it said.
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has ordered for the manufacturing of Chloroquine for emergency stock for possible clinical treatment of COVID-19 patients.
Prof. Mojisola  Adeyeye, the Director-General of NAFDAC, said in a statement on Monday that a local manufacturing pharmaceutical company, May and Baker had been approached to produce the drug.
Adeyeye said that the company, which flagship product was Chloroquine in the past, had produced a batch of the drug for emergency stock for the treatment of COVID-19.
She said Lagos State would start a clinical trial on the drug to evaluate the its effectiveness.
“About four weeks ago, I approached a local manufacturing company (May and Baker), a member of Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Group of Manufacturing Association of Nigeria (PMGMAN).
“The company, whose flagship product in the past was Chloroquine, has produced a batch of the drug for emergency stock.
“The company had NAFDAC approval for the production of the drug as antimalarial many years ago before the discontinuation.
“The managing director expressed possible difficulty in getting the API due to the fact that the drug has been discontinued.
“He called shortly after that he was able to get the API and was asked to manufacture a batch for emergency stock just in case more people become exposed and infected with the virus.
“The batch has been manufactured and the company plans to make more batches if needed,” she said.
The director-general said that the agency had earlier at a press briefing on March 20, gave expedited provisional approvals for the manufacture of any commodity for preventing the  disease and drug or medical device that could be used for the clinical trial testing and treatment of the virus.
She said the agency had reduced the 120 working days for approval to 10 days due to the  crisis.
“The products should have been previously reported for clinical trial treatments in reputable scientific journals or technical literature as safe and effective.
“Other researchers in France and U.S have used the drug for clinical trial treatment of COVID-19 and they reported effectiveness of the drug.
“Chloroquine as an old antimalarial is being repurposed for the clinical trial treatment of Coronavirus,” Adeyeye said.
NAFDAC chief advised the public to desist from its use without the guidance of a medical doctor or clinician for cases of clinical trial treatment of COVID-19.
She said that the agency, through its regulatory activities, would ensure that the clinical trial protocol guidelines were followed.
Chloroquine was discontinued in Nigeria many years ago for use as antimalarial because of the resistance that the parasite developed against the drug.
Meanwhile, a Professor of Immunology, Dr Ganiyu Arinola, says the assumption that drinking hot water will wash Coronavirus from the system is untrue.
Arinola of the Department of Immunology, University of Ibadan, said this on Monday in Ibadan.
There had been circulation of messages on the social media that drinking hot water was an effective way to wash the COVID-19 into the stomach and get rid of the deadly virus.
Arinola, however, said that the steam from hot water might help calm or reduce symptoms of COVID-19 but would not cure it.
The immunologist advised that people yet to be infected with the virus should focus on building their immunity to reduce the inflammation that could be caused by the disease.
“The major problem of Coronavirus is that it has the ability to multiply at a faster rate before one can mount effective immunity.
“There are many ways you can build your immune system apart from balanced diet. Taking vitamin supplements is a very important factor in building immunity.
“Vitamins A, C, E, are very powerful antioxidants that can help to neutralise the pathogens that cause infection.
“Zinc and Selenium are other micronutrient immune boosters,” he said.
The professor said oxidative stress, unhealthy lifestyle such as smoking also posed threat to the immune system.
According to him, oxidative stress leads to the production of free radicals which can pierce cell walls and exacerbate inflammation that occurs as a result of COVID-19.
“Although there are many un-answered questions about COVID-19, we know that the status of human immune system is crucial.
“The major attribute of Coronavirus is its ability to rapidly spread and multiply before effective immunity is mounted by the host, thus the pandemic nature of COVID-19.
“It is known that ageing is associated with causative factors of secondary immunodeficiency condition such as reduced exercise, increased stress, past and con-current infections.
“Others are non-communicable diseases including diabetes, hypertension and auto-immune disorders,” he said.
Arinola said that the Coronavirus task must be multidisciplinary for successful management of COVID-19 patients.
Also, President Muhammadu Buhari has been called upon to retrace his steps and include Oyo State and other states with confirmed cases of Covid-19 in whatever measures being taken by the Federal Government to curtail the spread of the Coronavirus in the country.
A three-term member of the House of Representatives, Dr. Ajibola Muraina, who gave this advice on Monday, warned the Federal Government not to play politics with the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, wondering why the President failed to mention Oyo, which has the third highest incidence of Covid-19 in the country after Lagos and Abuja, in his state broadcast or extend any of the measures put in place to check the spread of the disease.
The lawmaker stated that the exemption of Oyo State and a few other states where there have been confirmed cases of Covid-19 from the measures being taken to address the situation could mean harm for their fights against the virus.
He noted that though Governor Seyi Makinde has been doing a good job in handling the crisis, with adequate measures already put in place to contain the disease such as embarking on massive sensitisation and issuance of directives to ensure the prevention of the disease, the Federal Government would have to include Oyo State and other states in whatever measures and benefits being made available to Lagos and now Ogun.
He added that the perceived lackadaisical attitude of the Federal Government towards Oyo State in the handling of Covid-19 crisis has already reflected in the incapacitation of the University College Hospital (UCH), a federal hospital, to handle the crisis until the Oyo State government funded a Diagnostic Centre in the hospital.
Muraina, who commended Makinde’s proactive leadership, which he said has seen the state embark on a full-scale campaign on precautionary measures against Covid-19, putting in place measures to ensure social distance, among others, as well as setting up well-equipped isolation centres with a total of 114 beds in Ibadan and Ogbomoso, advised the Federal Government not to leave Oyo State and others where there have been confirmed cases to face the challenges alone at this period.
He said: “Last Sunday’s national broadcast by President Muhammadu Buhari could not have come at a better time than it did, after widespread criticisms on the President’s handling of the Covid-19 situation. In the broadcast, the President highlighted some of the measures the Federal Government has put in place and those that will still come on stream as the nation continues to seek ways to overcome the ongoing health crisis.
“It is, however, pertinent to mention that the President’s broadcast, through an error of commission and omission, left out Oyo State and a few others where there are confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the measures being put in place to check the spread of the virus, despite the fact that Oyo State has the third highest number of Covid-19 incidences in the country.
“By omitting the name of Oyo State and, indeed, a few others where the confirmed cases of Covid-19 exist from the first donation, not only has the Federal Government left the states to hold their own in the face of the Covid-19 challenges, it has also made donors look away from them.
“While I would want to give the President the benefit of the doubt by agreeing that Oyo State and others were inadvertently omitted in the national broadcast, it is imperative that the Federal Government takes steps to correct the omission and immediately retrospectively include them in all plans put in place to fight the spread of the virus in Lagos and Ogun states.
“As the President would have known, the UCH, which is supposed to the flagship of hospitals in the country has had to write an SOS letter to whom it may concern, seeking funding for facilities to handle the Covid-19. This, in itself, is an indictment on the Federal Government.
“But for the intervention of the Oyo State government, which collaborated the setting up of a Diagnostic Laboratory for Covid-19, the burden of sample testing for any suspected case in Oyo State would still have been on the over-pressurised centres in Lagos.
“While it must be noted at this point that the efforts of the Governor Makinde administration have been tremendous, with the ongoing massive sensitisation campaign and precautionary measures put in place by the government as well as the setting up of well-equipped isolation centres in Ibadan and Ogbomoso, the Federal Government should not shirk in its responsibilities to the people of Oyo State.”
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Breweries (NB) Plc has announced the postponement of its 74th Annual General Meeting (AGM) slated for April 22.
Mr Uaboi Agbebaku, NB Company Secretary, stated this in a notice to the investing public and the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
Agbebaku said the company’s Board of Directors took the decision to postpone the AGM due to the outbreak of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
He said that the board took the decision to ensure full compliance with all health and safety directives issued by the Federal and State Governments in a bid to control and curb the spread of the virus.
According to him, a new date for the AGM will be decided on in due course and communicated accordingly.
Some quoted companies listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange have already  notified the market about the postponement of their AGMS due to the outbreak of COVID-19.
Prominent among the firms that have postponed their AGMs are UBA, Transcorp, Transcorp Hotels, United Capital, Africa Prudential and Notore.