The World at war as COVID-19 kills 18,000

.Infected new cases now 395, 647 as death roll rises

.Abba Kyari, Bauchi Gov, 3 Villa staff test positive

.Countries, companies in lock-down as race to find cure hots up

The spread of the new Coronavirus otherwise referred to as ‘Covid-19’, which has infected more than 395,647, people globally resulting in the death of about 18,000 people is causing panic, putting both economic and social activities to a  lock down.

In Nigeria, the number of Coronavirus cases as confirmed by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), on Tuesday, rose from 40 to 42 following two new confirmed cases in Lagos and Ogun State.

This is just as the Chief of Staff to the president, Abba Kyari, Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed and three Aso Villa staff reportedly tested positive to the virus.

Mohammed in a press release issued to journalists by his Senior Special Assistant on Media, Alhaji Muktar Gidado, said that out of the six sample tests carried out, that of the Governor indicated positive.

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“This is to inform the general public that the result of the six initial tests carried out by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on His Excellency, Senator Bala Mohammed, his family and aides that accompanied him to Lagos is out”, the release disclosed.

The statement added that the Governor is in self isolation as his Doctors and officials from the NCDC have taken full charge of his quarantine.

Since the first case of the virus was reported in Wuhan, China last November, it has blown away major businesses including global crude oil prices, which is Nigeria’s major foreign exchange earner.

The United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, who said that the world is at war with coronavirus, said the international labour organisation across the world could lose as much as 3.4 trillion dollars in income by the end of the year.

Confirming the new cases quoting a data as reported by national authorities, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said that globally, about 395,647 suspected cases have been reported while 40,788 have been confirmed.

The data also reported about 18,000-suspected deaths, adding that about 1727 deaths have been confirmed so far.

Quoting the total new cases in last 24 hours, the WHO said: ‘’Globally 395,647 suspected cases have been reported, 40 788 cases have been confirmed, 18,000 suspected deaths while 1727 have been confirmed.

‘’In the Western Pacific Region about 95 637 suspected cases have been reported, 850 confirmed, 3473 suspected deaths and 35 confirmed deaths. While in the European Region 171 424 suspected cases have been reported, 20 131 confirmed, 8743 suspected deaths and 1318 confirmed deaths.

‘’The South-East Asia Region has 1776 suspected cases, 519 have been confirmed, 58 deaths and 13 confirmed.  The Eastern Mediterranean Region has 25 375 suspected cases, 1706 confirmed, 1741 deaths and 145confirmed deaths.

‘’Region of the Americas has 37 016 suspected cases, 17 331 have been confirmed, 465 suspected deaths and 213 confirmed’’.

The report added that African Region suspected cases currently stood at 1000 while 251 has been confirmed, 23 suspected deaths  and 3 confirmed.

The WHO lamented that the pandemic is accelerating to a dangerous dimension.

Meanwhile, some theories have claimed that the Coronavirus was accidentally unleashed from a top-secret laboratory in Wuhan, Hubei Province.

According to reports, the pandemic was triggered by an unknown strain of coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) as many who believe that the world was warned nearly 500 years ago.

They claimed that Nostradamus, a 16th-century physician and writer knew of the COVID-19 chaos in 1555.

It was believed that he predicted the future occurrence while he was alive.

Majority of these predictions took the form of cryptic, four-lined poems known as quatrains were published in Nostradamus’ 1555 book ‘Les Propheties’.

Also, many domestic and International analysts have said that the virus spread may have been aggravated by US-China trade war as the United States President consistently refers to the coronavirus as the “Chinese Virus” in a public presentations.

The pronouncement by the US president provoked an angry reaction from Beijing, which suggested that China-US trade war may take a decisive turn for the worse.

Coronavirus had already increased those risks even before Trump began launching pointed attacks at China, as it has threatened to undermine China’s ability to satisfy its side of January’s trade agreement it entered with the United States of America.

As part of that agreement, China committed to purchasing an additional $200 billion of US goods by December 2021.

As at the time, the Trump administration marketed the deal as a preliminary step towards a longer-term resolution. It didn’t entirely resolve the long-simmering conflict between the two rival superpowers.

Consequently, Chinese government has expressed its disappointment at Donald Trump’s choice of language. Its foreign ministry spokesperson, Geng Shuang, was quick to issue a statement rebuking him for using the term “Chinese Virus”.

In addition, another foreign ministry spokesperson, Zhao Lijian, recently repeated the conspiracy theory that the coronavirus is a bioweapon created by the U.S. military.

Analysts are predicting that if such bitter exchanges continue, it may risk causing a breakdown in U.S.-Chinese diplomacy, and at a time when China may struggle to fulfill its half of January’s agreement, such diplomacy will be sorely missed in the coming months.

In the meantime, more American states are currently under lockdown, with Louisiana, New Mexico, Washington and West Virginia issuing stay-at-home orders.

Recall, late on Monday, the United Kingdom went into lockdown as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson tried to stem the spread of Coronavirus, which has infected more than 5,000 people and killed hundreds in his country.

Similarly, no fewer than 1.3 billion Indians went into “total lockdown” from midnight Tuesday for 21 days to combat the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic even as Japan and the International Olympic Committee have agreed to postpone the Tokyo Olympics by one year due to the plague.

The UK government has tightened restrictions on the British public with an order for to stop all none essential public buildings and places are closed, ranging from libraries to churches, outdoor gyms and playgrounds, and all social events including weddings and baptisms.

This is Just as the United States, China and Europe are battling to be the first to find a cure, bringing a nationalist element to a worldwide crisis. However, cooperation has been recorded in recent times at some levels especially among companies that are ordinarily fierce competitors.

Hanging over the effort is the shadow of a nationalistic approach that could give the winner a chance to favour its own population and potentially gain the upper hand in dealing with the economic and geostrategic fallout from the crisis.

As clinical trials is already ongoing in the United States, China and Europe, what began as a question of who would get the scientific accolades, the patents and ultimately the revenues from a successful vaccine is suddenly a broader issue of urgent national security as governments try to ensure that their own people are the first in line.

While President Trump has commenced talks with pharmaceutical executives about making sure a vaccine is produced on American soil, to assure the United States controls its supplies, in China, 1,000 scientists are already at work on a vaccine, with the issue already been militarized.