At least 99 people were killed and more than 100 injured in the capital of Sierra Leone late on Friday when a fuel tanker exploded following a collision, local authorities said.

Emergency crews worked to clear the scene on Saturday in Freetown's eastern suburb of Wellington where a burnt body and the blackened shells of cars and motorbikes blocked the road following the crash, a Reuters reporter said.

The wounded were treated in hospitals and clinics across the capital, deputy health minister Amara Jambai told Reuters.

Victims included people who had flocked to collect fuel leaking from the ruptured vehicle, Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, mayor of the port city, said in a post on Facebook, although that post was later edited to remove the reference.

"We've got so many casualties, burnt corpses," said Brima Bureh Sesay, head of the National Disaster Management Agency, in a video from the scene shared online. "It's a terrible, terrible accident."

Videos shared online shortly after the explosion showed people running through clouds of thick smoke as large fires lit up the night sky. Reuters was not able immediately to verify the images, but witnesses described the horror.

"We are all in shock. A lady I had just bought bread from died. A lovely woman. I can’t get over this grief," said Abdul Kabia, crying at the crash site surrounded by mangled vehicles.

 

HOSPITAL OVERWHELMED

The crash provided a major challenge for Freetown's health service already creaking from years of underfunding. The 2014-2016 Ebola epidemic gutted the country's ranks of medical staff, 250 of whom died, and the system has not recovered.

Connaught Hospital was overwhelmed with the influx of patients, so some of the injured were moved to other locations, including a military hospital, said Swaray Lengor, a programme manager at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

"The situation at the hospital, especially Connaught hospital ... is overwhelming. Inadequate medical consumables and bed capacity," Lengor told Reuters by text message. "NGO partners were requested to support with equipment, medical commodities and food."

The death toll would likely rise, he said.

The World Health Organization said it would send supplies and deploy specialists in burn injuries.

"We will provide more support as needed at this terrible time for the people of Sierra Leone," it said on Twitter.

Accidents with tanker trucks in Sub-Saharan Africa have previously killed scores of people who gathered at the site to collect spilled fuel and were hit by secondary blasts.

In 2019, a tanker explosion in Tanzania killed 85 people, while around 50 people were killed in a similar disaster in Democratic Republic of Congo in 2018.

"My profound sympathies with families who have lost loved ones and those who have been maimed as a result," President Julius Maada Bio tweeted. "My government will do everything to support affected families."

Reuters

The United States has ordered non-emergency U.S. government employees in Ethiopia to leave because of armed conflict and civil unrest, its embassy in Addis Ababa said on Saturday.

Denmark and Italy also asked their citizens in Ethiopia to leave while commercial flights were still available, as rebellious Tigrayan forces and their allies have advanced towards the capital Addis Ababa.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government, which has been embroiled in a year-long war against Tigrayan forces, has promised to keep fighting despite calls for a ceasefire from African nations, Western states and the U.N. Security Council.

"Incidents of civil unrest and ethnic violence are occurring without warning. The situation may escalate further and may cause supply chain shortages, communications blackouts, and travel disruptions," the U.S. Embassy said on its website.

Government spokesperson Legesse Tulu and Abiy's spokesperson Billene Seyoum did not immediately respond to requests from Reuters for comment.

Municipal authorities in the capital ordered residents who own firearms to register their weapons this week, to bolster defences in case the city is attacked. Addis Ababa has registered more than 10,000 weapons, Yonas Zewde, a spokesperson for the city administration, told state broadcaster EBC on Saturday.

Abiy's government declared a national state of emergency on Tuesday, saying it was locked in an "existential war" with forces from the northern Tigray region and their allies.

Getu Argaw, police commissioner for the capital, told EBC it was "only a dream" for the TPLF to think it could capture the city. He said police had confiscated weapons and uniforms from people in the capital.

Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) spokesperson Getachew Reda accused Abiy of using the state of emergency to arrest "thousands of Tigrayans and Oromos".

The government spokesperson and the federal police spokesperson Jeylan Abdi did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment on Getachew's remarks but police have denied that arrests in the capital are ethnically motivated.

"We are only arresting those who are directly or indirectly supporting the illegal terrorist group," police spokesperson Fasika Fante said on Thursday, a reference to the TPLF. "This includes moral, financial and propaganda support."

The TPLF unveiled an alliance with other factions on Friday aiming to remove Abiy from power, saying this would be done by force if needed.

The government condemned the move, saying Abiy had a mandate to rule based on a landslide election win in June. It urged international partners to help protect Ethiopia's democracy.

The conflict in the north of Ethiopia started a year ago when forces loyal to the TPLF seized military bases in the Tigray region. In response, Abiy sent troops, who initially drove the TPLF out of the regional capital but have faced a sharp reversal since June this year.

Reuters has not been able to confirm independently the extent of the TPLF advance. The TPLF and their allies told Reuters this week they were now in the town of Kemise in Amhara state, 325 km (200 miles) from the capital. The government accuses the group of exaggerating its territorial gains.

The conflict has killed thousands of people, forced more than 2 million more from their homes and left 400,000 people in Tigray facing famine.

Social media companies Facebook and Twitter have taken action to limit what they call violations of their policies by Ethiopian accounts, including removing a post by Abiy's official Facebook account.

Twitter said on Saturday it had temporarily disabled the Trends section of its service in Ethiopia, which showcases the most tweeted subjects, because of threats of physical harm.

"Inciting violence or dehumanizing people is against our rules ... Given the imminent threat of physical harm, we've also temporarily disabled Trends in Ethiopia," the company said.

 

Reuters

 

 ..I wouldn't have attended-Taaooma

.. why I stayed away-Mr Macaroni

Popular Nigerian comedienne, Apaokaji Maryam (Taaooma), has apologised to millions of fans for meeting Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) alongside others in Abuja.

She said if she knew phones and other gadgets would be collected from them by security agents, she wouldn’t have attended the meeting.

She declared on Friday that she couldn’t record her conversation with Osinbajo because her electronic gadgets were collected upon entry at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

In a long Twitter thread on Friday, the skit maker mentioned that she might have declined the invitation if she had known her phones would be collected.

Taaooma, alongside a team of skit makers, had on Wednesday paid a visit to Osinbajo on the platform of the Nigeria Skits Industry Awards, led by its promoter, Bimbo Daramola.

Others on the delegation were Josh Alfred (Josh2funny), Ayo Ajewole (Woli Agba), Adebamiro Adeyanju (Mr Hyenana) and Adeoye Adeyemi Elesho (Yemi Elesho).

Talking about the visit, Taaooma earlier claimed that she represented the youth, adding that she spoke to Osinbajo about the Twitter ban and police brutality.

Taaooma stated that she was waiting on the video before defending herself, adding that Osinbajo’s team handled the media since their electronic gadgets were collected from them. She said: “I was going to wallow in my ‘shame’ and keep mute. But with the way it’s going, it seems the wound will keep getting deep.

“The organiser of the ‘skit awards’ needed more publicity for the event, secured a meeting with the VP and invited so many ‘skit makers’.

“I also declined at first as many others. But then, at the last minute, I gave it a rethink: what if I pull a Trojan? Gain access to the State House with this ‘skit awards’ thing and say my mind on hot issues.

“Unfortunately for us, after passing through many security checks, all our electronic devices were collected. I couldn’t even go live or record videos.

“All I did was do what others didn’t want to. And trust me, the VP himself was shocked when I started speaking about those issues as that wasn’t his expectations.

“I’m really sorry if I have offended anyone by going that way, but I achieved my aim. I said all I could straight to the VP.

“The VP’s media team were in charge of photos and videos. I might have fully declined if I knew that I won’t be able to go in with my camera or phone.

“The pictures taken after were sent to the ‘skit awards’ PR team. That’s why the photos went out before we got our own hands on it. I started getting tags and some even said I was being ‘called out’.

“My plan was to get the video as soon as it’s ready and post it. But I had no choice than to immediately post the available photo and state what happened at the meeting.

“I hope when the video is ready, everyone will know I’m saying nothing but the truth and my conscience is clear. Once again, I apologise deeply to everyone who felt disappointed.”

Meanwhile, Social media comedian and actor, Debo Adebayo, popularly known as Mr Macaroni, has said that he was absent during the visit by a group of skit makers to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, because he was not happy with the country’s leaders.

In a series of Twitter posts on Friday, he wrote, “First, I do not think there is an association of skit makers. If there is, then I don’t know anything about it. And that would be fine because I am an actor/thespian first before the tag ‘skit maker’.

 “So I don’t think those that went to see the VP without me or anyone else meant to sideline me. I want to believe they were invited to see the VP by the organisers of an award ceremony the same way I was invited. The only difference is that I declined the invitation.

“The reason I declined is simple. As a citizen, I’m not happy with our leaders and I do not want to associate with them. It’s okay if others believe that sitting with the government will change certain things and decide to try it out. I don’t think they should be crucified for that.

“I have just seen too much to know that the government sees and hears everything. They and their workers are always on the Internet. They know what we cry and complain about and they do nothing about it. So, what will sitting down with them to tell them what they already know change?

He added, “When politicians say they want to engage me, I always tell them to pick a public place, where all members of the press will be present. So that I can say my mind as I see it. When they are begging for votes, they come to us publicly. So, why do you want to see me privately?’’

He maintained that his desire was for Nigeria to be a better nation for himself and other citizens.

He wrote, “I am no hero or saint. I am not perfect. I am only a concerned citizen who wants a better nation for myself and for every other Nigerian. I use my voice, my craft and my platform to do this and I have been greatly persecuted for it.

 

“This is who I am. It is who I have always been, even before fame. I have suffered so much for it and sometimes I ask myself why I am the way I am. But anytime I remember how many lives I have been able to impact positively, I am at peace with myself.”

Isaac Adibe sat leisurely on a pavement along Ekwulobia road in Aguata Local Government Area, Anambra South Senatorial District, watching the deserted road on Friday.

The sexagenarian said he heard about the cancellation of the sit-at-home order given by separatist group, IPOB, on a radio breakfast news, but he had doubts.

His scepticism was fuelled by the attacks some members of IPOB, whom he called “thugs among them,” carried out on residents who breached the sit-at-home order.

Adibe does his business in neighbouring Nanka, in Orumba North LGA, and he said he would brave it, nonetheless.

Asked if he would be safe, he said “why not since the sit-at-home has been cancelled.”

“People are afraid, that is the truth because those touts claiming to be IPOB will break your motor (car) if you come out. That is the fear of people. They don’t mind anybody.

“If you see what they do on this road,” he noted. “On normal sit-at-home days like this, they will rush to destroy your windscreen, mirrors.

“Where are you going to report them? If they do what they do and you go to the police, the police you are to go report to are also scared. Nobody is safe. You are having an issue with someone now, and you have nobody to report to. We are praying to God, if they cancel it.”

 

Palpable fear

Even after the outlawed separatist group, IPOB, said it had cancelled its one week sit-at-home declared in Anambra, residents in some parts of the state have stayed off the roads.

Our reporters who visited towns in Aguata LGA, where the governorship candidates of the APC, APGA and PDP hail from, met deserted roads and locked stores.

A usually busy Ekwulobia junction where traders make brisk business and transporters collect passengers travelling around the state and to neighbouring Enugu was desolate on Friday.

Likewise, the road that leads to Isuọfia also had scant traction of vehicles except for few motorcycles and human movement and one beer and food joint.

Isuọfia is the hometown of Charles Soludo, the APGA candidate.

Other deserted towns and roads include those of Nkpologwu, Uga, Nanka, Nnewi, Akpo and Aguluezechukwu.

Not only are roads deserted and shops shut, some hotels, lodges and medical centres also said they were closed.

On Thursday, all the roads were bustling with life and trading continued into the night till as late as 10 p.m.

A representative of Landmark Diagnostics located on Ukpor road in Umudim Nnewi told our correspondent over the telephone, Friday morning, that the laboratory would not open until Sunday afternoon.

Residents expressed palpable fear and uncertainty despite the cancellation of the sit-at-home order.

Spokesman of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra, Emma Powerful, had on Thursday confirmed to this newspaper that his group had indeed cancelled the partial lockdown order.

 

Turnout for election

Adibe said he would vote and he believes his vote counts.

Three other residents interviewed said they will not vote. Their reasons ranged from fear to disinterest.

“I will go and vote tomorrow whether there is sit-at-home or sit-outside (orders) or not. If we don’t vote, the votes will still be counted even if there are two people. Why will I go inside? I must go outside to cast my vote because I want someone to govern Anambra,” Adibe said.

“No Jupiter (one) can stop me unless INEC officers do not come tomorrow. I must carry my voter card outside to cast my vote, at least I have done my mind.

“I’m convinced that people will come out tomorrow too. If I don’t, another person who is not your candidate will be elected by mobilising their people to vote.

“They (politicians) have the power, they will call INEC persons to come so that their people can vote. You must go to your polling unit.

“I must go to mine unless God does not give life tomorrow,” he said, adding that he hopes to see a more peaceful Anambra after the election.

On the other hand, a motorcyclist who identified himself simply as Commander said he would not vote, but he would be out with his motorcycle to make money.

On Friday, he was one of the few motorcycles plying the deserted roads. He said he had been out since 4 a.m. transporting passengers around the towns.

Another resident identified simply as Dare said even though he participated in previous elections, he was not sure Saturday’s election was one he would want to participate in.

He cited distance as a reason and more than that, the fear of violence in past elections but expressed uncertainty about the Saturday election.

The Ondo State indigene, who has lived in Anambra for 18 years, said he is also living in the circumference of the known fear among the residents.

“I normally vote but I am not sure if I will vote tomorrow. Had it been that I am in my state, I could have dared anybody since it is my state but when you see these people you don’t know them.

“The guys that enforce sit-at-home often wear masks, so you have to behave yourself. Although nobody is happy about what is going on in this country, nobody wants to die.”

The group, which had used force to enforce its earlier sit-at-home protests in the Southeast, had declared the sit-at-home in Anambra to discourage residents from taking part in the November 7 governorship election in the state.

The sit-at-home, which had been condemned by political leaders in the Southeast, was billed to commence on Friday, a day to the election.

The police have, however, assured that adequate security would be provided during the election.

Commissioner of Police in the state, Echeng Echeng, said he is impressed with the level of security across the state ahead of the poll.

 

Security deployment

“What we are telling everybody in Anambra is to feel free at the sight of security men in their areas, because they are there to provide security and not to intimidate any lawful person.

“We have equally told our personnel to be civil to the people, but for anyone coming out to make trouble, let them deal decisively with such trouble makers,” he said.

Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali, had announced the redeployment of over 34,000 personnel of the force in Anambra.

Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) also deployed 20,000 personnel outside those from the military and paramilitary.

PT

 

A federal high court in Abuja has stopped the federal government from deducting $418 million from the bank accounts of the 36 states of the federation.

The court, in a ruling delivered by Inyang Ekwo, the judge, ordered FG to suspend the planned action, pending the determination of a suit brought before it by governments of the 36 states.

Last week, Kayode Fayemi, governor of Ekiti, said state governments will not accept arbitrary deductions of funds by the federal government.

Jibrin Okutepa, who led the legal team of the states, told Ekwo that the 36 states would be completely crippled if the FG deduct the huge amount from the bank accounts of the states.

Okutepa said the FG had revealed the plan to deduct the $418 million from the accounts of states every month as part of debts for contracts allegedly executed for the states.

He, however, said that the 36 states’ attorneys-general have read the purported judgment displayed by the FG and found that the states were not parties to the court action which resulted in the judgment debt.

After listening to the arguments of the 36 states, Ekwo retrained the FG from deducting from the states in respect of the purported court judgment until all issues relating to it were fully determined.

Defendants in the matter include attorney general of the federation, minister of finance, accountant general of the federation and all banks in Nigeria.

While adjourning the matter till November 30, Ekwo ordered the plaintiffs to serve all the relevant court processes on the defendants.

The controversial payment of $418 million to consultants over the Paris Club refund had become a contending issue between the three tiers of government.

Consultants had claimed the amount as a percentage for the payment of services rendered to the states and local government councils. But the amount did not go down well with the governors who requested a forensic audit over the claim made by consultants.

The Cable

 

 

Some bandits in separate attacks invaded two villages of Yagbak and Ungwan Ruhugo  in the Ayap Chiefdom of the Zango- Kataf Local Government Area of Kaduna State on Friday.

A statement from the state government simply indicated that lives were lost, but it was gathered that no fewer than 10 persons were killed during the attack on one of the villages.

According to the state Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, some people were killed while houses were razed in attacks on two locations of Yagbak and Ungwan Ruhugo in Zango-Kataf.

He also said the governor had directed the State Emergency Management Agency to carry out an assessment and provide relief materials to the affected communities.

The statement titled, ‘Lives lost, houses burnt in attack in Zangon Kataf LGA’, read, “The military and police authorities have informed the Kaduna State Government of attacks in two locations, Yagbak and Ungwan Ruhugo, in Zangon Kataf LGA.”

When contacted, Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Mohammad Jalige, could not be reached as his telephone rang out while there was no response to a text message by our correspondent.

A source, who craved for anonymity, said the gunmen took the villagers unaware, shot indiscriminately and razed houses.

Punch

 

Bank of Industry has said the country’s entrepreneurs don’t have the habit of repaying loans, saying its non-performing loan portfolio awarded to entrepreneurs ranges between 80 and 100 per cent.

The bank’s managing director, Olukayode Pitan, disclosed this recently at the first edition of the community engagement development workshop organised by the Arthur Mbanefo Digital Research Centre (AMDRC) of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Akoka.

The workshop, with the theme; “Building the Nigeria’s Economy for the Immediate Future: The Role of Innovation and Entrepreneurship and Startups Creation,” featured scholars and industry leaders including the director of the university’s Institute of China Development Studies, Olufemi Saibu; head of programme- migration for development at the German Agency for International Cooperation, Sarah Alonge, and director, entrepreneurship and skills development centre at UNILAG, Sunday Adebisi, among others.

 

BOI’s lamentation

Pitan, in his presentation, listed some of the conditions it is difficult for Nigerian start-ups to access loans from the bank. He said if proper steps are taken start-ups can get loans of up to N10m to expand their business initiatives.

“You can get the loans without bringing your house as security. All we require are two guarantors and I can tell you, most Nigerians have problems getting two guarantors because they know them. We require the BVNs of those guarantors and a few things but they will not give it because they know the people. So we are saying if people that know you do not want to guarantee you, why should we believe in you?” he said.

He said another thing the bank tried was the introduction of matching grants which he noted that about 20 states are a part of.

Pitan said; “We go to your state and tell the governor that any amount you give us, we will match it. We will lend the money in your state but I can tell you that the non-performing loan ratio so far is on the average between 80-100 per cent.

“People believe that any money from the Bank of Industry that is owned by the government is part of the national cake. All we ask of you is pay back that money so that we can give you another loan.”

 

‘Nigeria’s brand of entrepreneurship will lead to increased poverty’

Meanwhile, in his own presentation, Saibu said the way Nigeria is pursuing its entrepreneurship programme will only lead to an increased number of people living in poverty in the country.

He said an entrepreneur is expected to identify a problem, look critically at the problem, and come up with a solution that is treatable and can be exchanged with a buyer but that what Nigerian entrepreneurs are doing was merely to create applications for Nigerians to access products overseas.

“If you create a product that nobody can buy, that is not a solution,” he said.

According to him, an entrepreneur does three things including bringing up a completely new product or facilitating product getting to the buyer or creating access to that product.

“Our focus so far has been creating platforms for people to have access to products and that has been creating problems for our supply side. We are not creating entrepreneurs who are creating products, we only create entrepreneurs who facilitate the trading of a product produced in other countries,” he said.

He said creating platforms and apps that make people buy oversea only adds problems to Nigeria’s foreign exchange.

“The start-ups may earn billions of dollars but they are adding to the problem of our country because the products and apps they created are promoting businesses overseas.

“They make it easier for people to buy in Amazon and China but they have not made people buy from Nigeria. Therefore, we need to have a rethink that the entrepreneurs that we want to produce will be people who create products that we can sell outside Nigeria,” he said.

Saibu also said the recently introduced Central Bank of Nigeria’s Tertiary Institution Entrepreneur Scheme (TIES) identifies agricultural businesses, creative industry and science and technology, saying they are all about software application development.

He said; “The scheme is supposed to assist entrepreneurs and innovators but it will only create demand access, making Nigerians build websites and apps that can make it easy for people to buy overseas.

“They are not looking for people who can go into engineering, develop a prototype of a phone that can be accessible to all Nigerians and produce locally for people to buy Nigeria-made phones.

“They are not looking at entrepreneurs who can design vehicles that are not using electricity and solar but our oil and be able to make it available. So, until we begin to redirect our creativity, innovations and entrepreneurship towards expanding the domestic economy, we may continue to have increasing entrepreneurship and at the same time increasing unemployment.”

Continuing, he said Nigeria needs to understand that it cannot teach entrepreneurs but develop the talent in people that they become entrepreneurs. “It is not the training that produced Ronaldo but the talent of a footballer that is in him. He was only given the opportunity to develop that potential.”

“We need to promote IT and my own take is that we should change information technology to industrial technology. It is when we build our industry that we can compete globally, not agriculture,” he said.

 

‘Africa cannot stay in the past’

On his part, Adebisi said that Africa has missed some developmental processes, saying; “We had the first, second and third revolutions, but we did not do anything about it, we are still living in the first industrial revolution and the world will not wait for us so we have missed it and this is the fourth industrial revolution, so because the world is not going to wait for us, we have to be integrated into the world so that at the end of the day Africa will not lose it all.”

He said start ups have to be encouraged to go into what drives the fourth revolution. “We must be connected to the world and Fintech is what we must key into. We need to combine the fourth revolution with what Saibu said because if we lock down our economy we will lose it all.”Energy crisis

Adebisi said local production is the best thing to boost local economy but he decried Nigeria’s poor electricity, saying; “If I produce here, nobody will buy at my cost of production per unit, therefore, if as a Nigerian country I take my idea to china to create it into product, I know that I have exported jobs but by the time I bring the products back to Nigeria, I will contribute to the GDP.”

“We need to start from there whether we like it or not because if we wait for the government to give us energy, we will not do anything,” he said.

 

Opportunities for start-ups

On her part, Alonge said there is a mismatch of opportunities and skills in Nigeria, noting that her organisation provides additional skills for people to increase their livelihood.

She said the existing skill mismatch within the Nigerian labour market contributes significantly to the unemployment rate.

“This has to do with lack of information on the labour market’s needs but also the discourse together with the need for direction of where the labour market is supposed to go which is what we are talking about when we talk about industrialisation, industrial development and others.”

In her welcome remark, director of the centre, Taiwo Ipaye, said the programme was introduced to bring both the town and gown together to address the needs of the labour market and provide the required skills for the tertiary institutions’ products.

Ipaye, a former registrar of the university, said the centre is committed to creating a middle ground between the town and the gown for the socio-economic prosperity of the country.

PT

Ondo State governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, has declared that grazing routes would not work in Nigeria because the country can no longer continue to live in the past.

He stressed that the country needs a multi-levelled policing with special attention to state police to effectively secure the lives and property of the citizens.

The governor said many states in the country have signed the anti-open grazing laws to protect the people and their means of livelihood. Akeredolu declared that the Western Nigeria Security Network Agency, codenamed Amotekun Corps was effectively filling the vacuum created by the overstretched conventional security agencies, particularly the police in the state.

Akeredolu noted that Amotekun Corps was a product of circumstance, essentially created to fill the obvious security gap in the state for the security of all.

The governor stressed that Amotekun’s efforts with the help of other security agencies have brought relative peace to the state.

He spoke at the Cocoa Conference Hall of the Governor’s office while playing host to the participants of Course 30 of the National Defence College (NDC), Abuja, led by the Commandant, Oladele Daji, a Navy Rear Admiral.

Akeredolu, who particularly commended the military for ensuring peace and security in the country, disclosed that his administration had enjoyed necessary support and cooperation from all heads of security agencies in the state including the Nigerian Army, the Police, the NSCDC, the DSS, the NIA and others.

The governor insisted that no genuine herder would graze his herd of cow with AK-47, just as he said any herder who destroys any farmland in the state would be made to pay compensation to the affected farmer.

He also added that Amotekun Corps now engage in road patrol to further ensure the security of lives and property of all residents across the state.

Earlier, Commandant, National Defence College, Abuja, Daji, who lauded the governor for the security and industrial strides recorded so far, expressed confidence that the products of the participants’ research would go a long way in assisting policy inputs towards delivery of good governance and ensure security of the state.

Sun

 

Pfizer Inc's experimental antiviral pill to treat Covid-19 cut by 89% the chance of hospitalization or death for adults at risk of severe disease, the company said on Friday, as its CEO vowed to make this promising new weapon in the fight against the pandemic available globally as quickly as possible.

The trial's results suggest that Pfizer's drug surpasses Merck & Co Inc's pill, molnupiravir, which was shown last month to halve the chance of dying or being hospitalized for Covid-19 patients at high risk of serious illness.

Pfizer's pill, with the brand name Paxlovid, could secure U.S. regulatory approval by the end of the year. Pfizer said it plans to submit interim trial results to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) before the Nov. 25 U.S. Thanksgiving holiday. The trial was stopped early due to its high success rate.

President Joe Biden said the U.S. government has secured millions of doses of Pfizer's drug.

"If authorized by the FDA we may soon have pills that treat the virus in those who become infected," Biden said. "The therapy would be another tool in our toolbox to protect people from the worst outcomes of Covid."

Shares in Pfizer, which also makes one of the mostly widely used Covid-19 vaccines, rose 11% to close at $48.61. Merck's fell 10% to close at $81.61. Shares of vaccine makers took a hit, with Moderna Inc, Pfizer's German partner BioNTech SE and Novavax all down 11-21%.

Pfizer's pill is given in combination with an older antiviral called ritonavir. The treatment consists of three pills given twice daily. It has been in development for nearly two years.

The Pfizer and Merck pills are eagerly anticipated, with only limited options currently available for treating people sick with Covid-19. Full trial data is not yet available from either company.

Pfizer is in active discussions with 90 countries over supply contracts for its pill, Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla said in an interview.

"Our goal is that everyone in the world would be able to have it as quickly as possible," Bourla said.

Bourla added that for high-income countries Pfizer expects to price its treatment close to where Merck has priced its drug. Merck's U.S. contract price is around $700 for a five-day course of therapy. For low-income countries, Bourla said Pfizer is considering several options, with the goal of "no barrier for them as well to have access."

Merck's pill was approved by British regulators in a world first on Thursday.

Even with the potential offered by the Pfizer and Merck pills, preventing Covid-19 infections through broad use of vaccines remains the best way to control a pandemic that has killed more than 5 million people worldwide, including more than 750,000 in the United States, infectious disease experts said.

"Vaccines are going to be the most effective and reliable tool that we have in this pandemic," said Grace Lee, professor of pediatrics at Stanford University School of Medicine. "These oral medications are going to augment our ability to really reduce the risk of severe disease, hospitalization and death, which is huge, but it won't prevent infection."

While more than 7 billion vaccine doses have been administered worldwide, that has covered only about half the world's people. In the United States, 58% of all people, including 70% of adults, are fully vaccinated.

Mizuho analyst Vamil Divan forecast a "very minor impact" from Pfizer's drug on vaccination among people who do not want the vaccine or a booster shot as recommended by U.S. health regulators.

"I think there's a small percentage of people that may decide not to get vaccinated now that there are good treatment options," Divan said.

 

MANUFACTURING GOALS

Pfizer said it expects to manufacture 180,000 treatment courses by the end of this year and at least 50 million courses by the end of next year, including 21 million in the first half of 2022. Bourla said that, based on the better-than-expected trial results, Pfizer is considering potentially doubling next year's manufacturing target.

Antivirals need to be given as early as possible, before an infection takes hold, to be most effective.

The planned analysis of 1,219 patients in Pfizer's study examined hospitalizations or deaths among people diagnosed with mild to moderate Covid-19 with at least one risk factor for developing severe disease, such as obesity or older age.

Among those given Pfizer's drug within three days of symptom onset, the pill lowered the chances of hospitalization or death for adults at risk of developing severe Covid-19 by 89% compared to those receiving a placebo. Among these patients, 0.8% were hospitalized and none died by 28 days after treatment, compared to a 7% hospitalization rate and seven deaths in the placebo group.

Rates were similar for patients treated within five days of symptoms: 1% of the treatment group was hospitalized, compared to 6.7% for the placebo group, which included 10 deaths. Pfizer said that represents 85% effectiveness at preventing hospitalization or death.

Two other trials - one in people without underlying risk factors and another in people who have been exposed to the virus but are not yet infected - are continuing, with those results likely be available in the first quarter of 2022, Bourla said.

Pfizer did not detail side any effects but said adverse events happened in about 20% of both treatment and placebo patients. Possible side effects include nausea and diarrhea.

Reuters

British scientists have identified a gene that doubles the risk of dying from Covid-19, providing new insights into why some people are more susceptible to the disease than others, while opening up possibilities for targeted medicine.

Around 60% of people with South Asian ancestry carry the high-risk gene, researchers at Oxford University said on Friday, adding the discovery partly explains the high number of deaths seen in some British communities, and the effect of Covid-19 in the Indian subcontinent.

The scientists found that the increased risk is not because of a difference in genetic coding of the proteins, but because of differences in the DNA that makes a kind of "switch" to turn a gene on.

That genetic signal is likely to affect cells in the lung, while a higher risk version of the identified gene, called LZTFL1, possibly prevents the cells lining airways and the lungs from responding to the virus properly.

However, the higher risk version gene does not affect the body’s immune system that makes antibodies to fight off infections, researchers said, adding that those people carrying this version of the gene should respond normally to vaccines.

“(The study) shows that the way in which the lung responds to the infection is critical. This is important because most treatments have focussed on changing the way in which the immune system reacts to the virus,” said James Davies, co-lead of the study.

The findings were published in the Nature Genetics journal.

Reuters