Former US Secretary of State and First Lady Hillary Clinton has blasted President Donald Trump after he suggested scientists should investigate inserting disinfectants into the body as a way to cure COVID-19 caused by the novel coronavirus.

Clinton, Trump’s 2016 bitter presidential rival, warned on Friday that people not to poison themselves based on the president’s advice. 

“Please don’t poison yourself because Donald Trump thinks it could be a good idea,” she wrote on Twitter.

Clinton’s comment comes as Trump faces criticism from medical professionals for his remarks. Doctors and health experts urged people not to drink or inject disinfectant.

Trump said at his daily media briefing on Thursday that medical experts should explore whether inserting light or disinfectant into the bodies of people infected with the novel coronavirus might cure the disease.

 He also asked if there was a way to use disinfectants on the body “by injection inside or almost a cleaning.”

“Is there a way we can do something like that by injection, inside, or almost a cleaning?” he said. “It would be interesting to check that.”

“Maybe you can, maybe you can’t … I’m not a doctor. But I’m, like, a person that has a good you-know-what,” Trump said, pointing to his head.

Trump claims remarks were ‘sarcastic’

On Friday, Trump on Friday said he was being sarcastic when he suggested a day earlier that scientists should consider exposing the body to light, heat and disinfectants the coronavirus patients.

“I was asking a question sarcastically to reporters like you just to see what would happen,” Trump told reporters at the Oval Office in the White House.

“I was asking a sarcastic — and a very sarcastic question — to the reporters in the room about disinfectant on the inside,” he continued. “But it does kill it, and it would kill it on the hands and that would make things much better. That was done in the form of a sarcastic question to the reporters.”

When a reporter pointed out that the president had turned to experts next to the stage when he presented the idea on Thursday, Trump claimed he was asking those officials “whether or not sun and disinfectant on the hands … can help us.”

Trump’s explanation raised eyebrows among those who watched the Oval Office briefing.

“It didn’t seem like it was coming off as sarcastic when he was talking and turning to Dr. Birx on the side,” Fox News anchor Bret Baier said on air after Trump’s retraction.

We have a ‘quack medicine salesman’ on TV

“We seemed to have a quack medicine salesman on television. He’s talking about things like disinfectant in the lungs,” Schumer said.

“We need real focus in the White House on what needs to be done. Instead of talking about disinfectant the president should be talking about how he’s going to implement testing. Which every expert says is the quickest path to get us moving again,” he added.

Trump’s dangerous comments forced Lysol manufacturer Reckitt Benckiser to issue a statement that “under no circumstance” should its products be administered into the human body.

The company said in a statement on its website that “due to recent speculation and social media activity,” they had “been asked whether internal administration of disinfectants may be appropriate for investigation or use as a treatment for coronavirus.”

“As a global leader in health and hygiene products, we must be clear that under no circumstance should our disinfectant products be administered into the human body (through injection, ingestion or any other route). As with all products, our disinfectant and hygiene products should only be used as intended and in line with usage guidelines. Please read the label and safety information,” the company said on Friday.

Culled from Presstv

The sun is only just rising in Berlin but Lothar Kopp, 65, is already standing in line outside a clinic in the district of Reinickendorf.

Along with a handful of mask-clad people standing two metres apart, he is here to give a blood sample — for antibody tests in the hope of finding out if he has previously contracted the coronavirus and since developed immunity.

“If I’ve already had corona then I’m not infectious,” said Kopp, hoping to test positive for antibodies as it could allow him to visit his elderly mother without the risk of spreading the disease.

As nations around the world look to ease curbs on public life, some experts have mooted the possibility of so-called “immunity passports” to allow those who have antibodies to return to work first.

In Germany, tens of thousands of tests have been performed and large studies are ongoing.

Elsewhere in the world, efforts are also under way to determine the so-called level of immunity in the population.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said last week that the state will be launching tests “in the most aggressive way in the nation” to find out how many have already had the disease.

In a rush to catch up with testing, the US regulator had even taken the extraordinary decision to allow commercial manufacturers to market their tests without formal authorisation.

But experts including from the World Health Organization have urged caution over the accuracy of the nascent tests.

Among the unknowns of the virus is how long immunity could last — meaning that even positive antibody tests may not be meaningful for long.

– ‘Nonsense’ –

Urging prudence, a WHO spokeswoman noted that there is “much discussion” over the antibody tests.

But “once we have validated tests we may still not know how well a positive result correlates with protection against disease or for how long the protection will last,” she told AFP.

Matthias Orth, a board member of the Professional Association of German Laboratory Doctors (BDL), said inaccuracies are a big problem.

People can test negative even if they have had COVID-19, he said.

“There are also quite banal coronaviruses that do not cause serious illness, and they can give a positive result.”

As for so-called rapid antibody tests — home kits that extract blood from your finger and promise a result within 15 minutes — Orth’s verdict: “They’re nonsense.”

More accurate tests will come within weeks, he said, but he stressed that “it’s a little too early to give patients a clear statement that they are definitely immune”.

– 70,000 tests –

Nevertheless, the studies, including one that started in Munich over the weekend with scientists picking 3,000 households at random to test for antibodies, are being closely watched.

A separate study is ongoing in Gangelt, in the Heinsberg district — where Germany’s first major cluster of infections was uncovered. So far, researchers have determined that 14 percent of the population had previously been infected.

Beyond studies, several pharmaceutical companies in Germany have also begun marketing such antibody tests — which must be analysed in a laboratory.

And around 70,000 tests have so far been processed by 54 laboratories, according to the ALM association of accredited medical laboratories.

Doctor Ulrike Leimer-Lipke of the Reinickendorf clinic, which has been offering antibody tests since mid-March, said: “I think it makes a lot of sense, because this way we can find out if people have immunity.

“It is very important for people if they have a grandmother or a mother or father who they care for, to know if they are already immune.”

Source: AFP

Countries in the CEMAC region have now classified their Cameroonian neighbour as a nation at risk because of the high number of people infected with the COVID-19 pandemic. Late on Friday, the sick man of the Sub Saharan region Central African Republic (CAR) announced that people coming from Cameroon into CAR have to be tested for COVID-19. A move welcomed by members of the CEMAC group.

The Central African Minister of Public Health Dr Pierre Somse went a step further by making public a toll-free number 1212 and observed that it is imperative for anyone coming from the Republic of Cameroon to the Central African Republic within the last 14 days to urgently visit health centers to carry out the COVID-19 screening test.

Since April 6, one month after the confirmation of the first case of the coronavirus, Cameroon has entered the top 5 African countries most affected by the pandemic. It has thus become the first in CEMAC followed by the Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.

According to statistics updated Friday after an evaluation meeting by the French Cameroun Minister of Public Health Dr Manaouda Malachie, 1430 people have contracted the coronavirus.

Among those who tested positive, 692 are active. And, 120 are hospitalized including 20 under respiratory assistance.   The Francophone Health Minister also announced on Thursday evening that some 668 patients have recovered from the virus with 43 deaths recorded.   

Several special centers for the care of patients with COVID-19 have been set up including 2 in the French Cameroun’s political capital of Yaoundé.  The Biya regime has also included the military stadium in Yaounde as one of the specialised centers for the care of COVID-19 patients. Douala in the Littoral region has 2 special centers while 1 currently operates in Garoua.

The ruling CPDM crime syndicate received last Saturday, 100 ventilators and 300 thousand diagnostic kits.

By Oke Akombi Ayukepi Akap in Glasgow with files from Rita Akana

Doctors and health experts urged people not to drink or inject disinfectant on Friday after US President Donald Trump suggested scientists should investigate inserting the cleaning agent into the body as a way to cure COVID-19.

“(This is an) absolutely dangerous crazy suggestion,” said Paul Hunter, a professor of medicine at Britain’s University of East Anglia.

“You may not die of COVID-19 after injecting disinfectant, but only because you may already be dead from the injection.”

Trump said at his daily media briefing on Thursday that scientists should explore whether inserting light or disinfectant into the bodies of people infected with the new coronavirus might help them clear the disease.

“Is there a way we can do something like that by injection, inside, or almost a cleaning?” he said. “It would be interesting to check that.”

Parastou Donyai, director of pharmacy practice and a professor of social and cognitive pharmacy at the University of Reading, said Trump’s comments were shocking and unscientific.

She said people worried about the new coronavirus and the COVID-19 disease it causes should seek help from a qualified doctor or pharmacist, and “not take unfounded and off-the-cuff comments as actual advice”.

Robert Reich, a professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley and a former US labor secretary, added on Twitter, “Trump’s briefings are actively endangering the public’s health. Please don’t drink disinfectant.”

Reading’s Donyai said previous comments by Trump had already been linked to people self-administering medicines or other products in ways that make them poisonous.

“We have already seen people mistakenly poisoning themselves by taking chloroquine when their hopes were raised by unscientific comments,” She said.

Reckitt Benckiser, which manufactures household disinfectants Dettol and Lysol, issued a statement on Friday warning people not to ingest or inject its products.

(Source: Reuters)

Eric Wule has a problem. He lives in Kumba, a city in southwest Cameroon, and this week his government has told him — together with all other 25-million citizens — that it is illegal to appear in public without a face mask. This is part of the government’s measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. As of April 18, Cameroon had recorded 1 017 cases of the disease, including 22 deaths.

But surgical masks are in short supply, and Wule is struggling to find one. The masks that are being sold, he cannot afford: the price has quintupled, from 100 CFA francs (about R3.12) to between 500 CFA francs and 1 000 CFA francs.

Wule is not the only person struggling to comply with the emergency regulations. There are simply not enough face masks in Cameroon for everyone. 

“The masks are scarce and even seem unavailable. Families and friends will use that which is available in turns just to escape police trouble,” commented one civil society activist, who asked not to be named.

Many people have started making masks themselves, from fabric, but this comes with its own risks. “They have not been well educated on how to use these reusable masks. The management of the cloth mask is also problematic. They are being fabricated in homes and no attention is paid to sterilisation after fabrication. The Covid-19 status of the persons fabricating them are also not known,” said Dr Ade Harrison Manju, the director of Benakuma district hospital.

Harrison has also observed people trying on face masks before purchasing them. “This seems to be a new mode of transmission. Imagine buying a mask that has been tried on previously by about 10 people whose status you do not know. It is risky!” he said.

The World Health Organisation cautions that wearing a mask alone is not an adequate defence against Covid-19, and that “there is currently no evidence that wearing a mask (whether medical or other types) by healthy persons in the wider community setting, including universal community masking, can prevent them from infection with respiratory viruses, including Covid-19.”

The politics of protection

One campaign designed to support Cameroonians in this difficult time is the Survie-Cameroon-Survival Initiative, which aimed to raise €1-million for relief efforts. But it was declared illegal by the government, perhaps because it was founded by Maurice Kamto, the main opposition leader. The interior ministry has taken steps to freeze the campaign’s bank account.

For his part, Kamto has accused President Paul Biya of being absent during this crisis, and has asked Parliament to declare a power vacancy and organise new elections. Kamto may have a point: Biya had not been seen in public for about a month. This week, following Kamto’s stinging criticism, the presidency released a photograph of Biya meeting the French ambassador to Cameroon. A tweet from Biya’s account read: “On the menu for our exchange this afternoon: managing the Covid-19 pandemic in Cameroon, France and around the world.”

Kamto was not impressed. “Cameroonians are expecting him to address the nation, to tell them exactly what is going on, to share his vision,” said Kamto, speaking to the Washington Post. “Whether that photo is real? Authentic? I don’t know.”

Nkongho Felix Agbor, a renowned Buea-based human rights  lawyer, condemned the politicisation of Covid-19. “This is not the time [for] playing politics with the lives of our people, many of whom are dying. There is a need for a collective action,” he said.

Others see the government restriction as unwise. Ndansi Elvis, a United States-based Cameroonian with deep knowledge of health economics, calls it “insanity.” He thinks it is an act of cowardice for the government to order the closure of the account of a solidarity fund aimed at fighting this pandemic, simply because of political rivalry. “Are the funds to be used in sponsoring any terrorist act? Can government convince those donating from all over the world to donate to its own fundraiser when they know well that because of credibility issues people may not donate as much?”

Source: Mail/Guardian

Non-European doctors have become indispensable for France as the country’s healthcare system struggles to deal with the coronavirus crisis. But with foreign university degrees, they are not seen as equals to their French counterparts, and are often both paid and respected less.

Nesrine Mahfoudhi works in a Covid-19 unit in a French hospital. Like all of her coworkers, she has had to cope with the unprecedented spike in patients due to the coronavirus. But one thing sets her apart: she earned her medical degree outside the EU, meaning she does not have the same professional status as European doctors.

“We work more than our French co-workers, out of necessity. We’re paid less than them. My head of service trusts me. He’s considered me as a real doctor since I started working here. So I don’t see why the French government doesn’t consider us as doctors as well,” she says.

She is not alone. Thousands of foreign doctors practice in France, often in less secure jobs and with a lower pay, and many of them have become indispensable in dealing with the coronavirus crisis.

“Many emergency departments wouldn’t be able to function without doctors with foreign medical degrees. These doctors have done so much for France,” Mathias Wargon, head of the ER at the Delafontaine Hospital in the northern Paris suburb of Saint-Denis.

Many now hope that a healthcare law passed by lawmakers last year will make it easier for foreign doctors to receive the same professional recognition as their French colleagues.

Source: France 24

More than a thousand COVID cases have been confirmed in conflict-prone Cameroon, provoking fears that the situation may get out of hand if the virus spreads to refugee camps and areas where internally displaced persons from the country’s separatist crisis and Boko Haram terrorism live. Rights groups are asking for humanitarian assistance, saying resources are already stretched tackling Boko Haram terrorism, separatist conflicts, the spillover of the carnage in neighboring CAR and now, COVID-19.

Cameroon’s prime minister, Joseph Dion Ngute, in a declaration broadcast on all local radio and TV stations, said schools that were closed March 17 will remain closed for at least the next 45 days, since COVID-19 cases have increased from barely a hundred in March to over 1,000 on April 18.

“The resumption of classes on the indicative date of 1st June,” he said. “It is understood that this measure is subject to change, depending on the evolution of the pandemic.”

Ngute called on Cameroonians to remain indoors, practice hygiene methods and wear masks if they must go out. He said COVID-19 has killed 23 Cameroonians and 180 have recovered, while more than 800 are still being treated in already-overcrowded health facilities.

Strained resources

Cameroon Civil Society Group leader Edward Nfor said the country may not be financially and materially able to handle its increasing COVID-19 cases because it’s also tackling Boko Haram terrorism on its northern border with Nigeria, separatist conflicts in the English-speaking regions and the spillover of the carnage in neighboring Central African Republic.

“With the COVID just coming in, I find it very difficult for the state of Cameroon,” he said. “There are alarming numbers of refugees coming in from the Central African Republic and the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Just imagine that the COVID-19 enters into these refugee camps. I find Cameroon in a very delicate situation.”

Issa Tchiroma, Cameroon employment and vocational training minister, said Cameroon finds itself in a difficult situation because most of its resources are already invested in crisis and humanitarian assistance.

Cameroon has not disclosed how much it spends in the separatist conflict that has killed 3,000 people since 2017 and in the war against Boko Haram terrorism.

Already affecting exports

Antonio Pedro, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa director for central Africa, said exports that Cameroon relies on for income are already affected by the spread of COVID-19.

“We have seen oil prices go down from $65, 60 to 30. Coffee, cocoa, wood, palm oil —  the demand in the major importing countries will go down, and prices are also being revised downwards,” he said.

In a report published April 17, the International Rescue Committee describes Cameroon as one of the world’s most forgotten crises, facing three distinct emergencies, from armed violence in the northwest and southwest to an influx of refugees from Nigeria and Central Africa Republic.

The IRC said that more than 700,000 people in some places have been forced to flee their homes and are living in cramped, crowded informal camps, meaning COVID-19 will spread rapidly throughout the population.

The IRC said that Cameroon, with almost 4 million people in need of humanitarian aid and the highest COVID-19 caseload across the Sahel and East Africa, faces increased danger from the pandemic. And with 2.5 million people already in need of urgent medical care without the outbreak, the health system is clearly ill prepared to handle a rapid escalation in cases, despite the best efforts of the government and its partners.

Source: VOA

The coronavirus pandemic has exposed “systemic weaknesses” in global health systems, the G20 said Monday, but there was no mention of Washington’s contentious decision to halt World Health Organization funding.

The statement came after health ministers from the 20 most advanced economies held a virtual meeting on Sunday hosted by the group’s current president Saudi Arabia following criticism the institution was slow to address the pandemic.

“Health Ministers recognised that the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted systemic weaknesses in health systems,” they said in a joint statement.

“It also has shown vulnerabilities in the global community’s ability to prevent and respond to pandemic threats.

“Ministers addressed the need to improve the effectiveness of global health systems by sharing knowledge and closing the gap in response capabilities and readiness.”

The worldwide death toll from the novel coronavirus pandemic rose to 164,016 on Sunday, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP.

More than 2,363,210 declared cases have been registered in 193 countries and territories since the epidemic first emerged in China in December.

The novel coronavirus has upended the lives of billions of people as nations imposed lockdown measures to curb its spread, sending the global economy into a tailspin.

The G20 statement was silent on US President Donald Trump’s decision last week to cut off Washington’s bilateral funding to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Trump has accused the UN body of mishandling the coronavirus crisis.

The US contributed $400 million to the WHO last year.

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres has condemned the US suspension of funds, saying it was “not the time to reduce” the WHO’s resources.

The WHO remained “absolutely critical” in the global fight against the virus, he said.

Source:  AFP

Confirmed cases of coronavirus passed the 20,000 mark barely 24-hours after the deaths topped 1,000. This is according to tallies from the John Hopkins University tracker.

The figures as of 13:30 GMT stood at 100,075 with 4,600+ recoveries and 1,026 deaths leaving a little over 13,350 active cases.

Egypt remained the continent’s most impacted whiles the North African region generally contributed for some of the highest numbers. Egypt with 2,844 cases, Morocco with 2,600+ cases and Algeria with 2,418 confirmed cases.

South of the Sahara, South Africa’s 2,700+ cases was the highest with Cameroon in a distant second with 1,017, Ivory Coast’s 732, Djibouti’s 732 and Ghana’s 641 completed the top five slots.

Meanwhile the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, UNECA, has warned that cases could spike across the continent as more testing is rolled out in the coming weeks.

Africa could see 300,000 deaths from the coronavirus this year even under the best-case scenario, according to a new report released Friday that cites modeling from Imperial College London.

Under the worst-case scenario with no interventions against the virus, Africa could see 3.3 million deaths and 1.2 billion infections, the report by the U.N. Economic Commission for Africa said.

Even with “intense social distancing.” under the best-case scenario the continent could see more than 122 million infections, the report said.

Any of the scenarios would overwhelm Africa’s largely fragile and underfunded health systems, experts have warned. Under the best-case scenario, $44 billion would be needed for testing, personal protective equipment and treatment, the report said, citing UNECA estimates. The worst-case scenario would cost $446 billion.

Source: Africa News