FG evacuates 6,317 Nigerians from 21 Countries + More COVID-19 Updates

576 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-88, Kwara-87, FCT-82, Plateau-62, Ondo-39, Enugu-28, Oyo-26, Taraba-24, Kaduna-20, Ebonyi-20, Edo-17, Cross River-16, Kano-14, Rivers-11, Ogun-10, Delta-9, Nasarawa-8, Osun-8, Katsina-3, Imo-2, Kebbi-1, Borno-1.

There are now 37,801 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the country, and 805 deaths has been recorded. 15,677 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/wU9Q90NF2L

— NCDC (@NCDCgov) July 21, 2020

Oyo Cancels Third Term, Releases Exam Reopening Time Table

The Oyo State Government announced the measures that will guide the resumption of schools in the state at the end of the State Executive Council meeting on Tuesday, The Punch Reports.

According to the calendar, the third term 2019/2020 session has been cancelled meaning promotion for all affected classes would be determined by the first and second term continuous assessment results.

Primary 6, Junior Secondary School 3 and Senior Secondary School 3 students are to proceed on holiday from July 30 and resume for their examinations in some weeks’ time.

The Basic Education Certificate Examination is set to hold between August 10 and 18, while the Competitive Entrance Examination into the schools of science is to hold on August 19. Placement and screening test to JSS1 is scheduled for August 20, while placement test into technical colleges is for August 28.

The SSS 3 class will resume for examination as soon as the West African Examination Council announces the examination date.

The 2020/21 academic session, according to the calendar indicates that the first term will hold between September 21 and December 18, 2020.

FG evacuates 6,317 Nigerians from 21 Countries

The Federal Government has evacuated 6,317 Nigerians back home on account of the coronavirus pandemic. The nationals were repatriated from 21 countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, France, India, United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Sudan, Kenya, Senegal and others.

While speaking to the press in Abuja on Tuesday, on the forthcoming National Diaspora Day celebration slated for July 25, 2020, Chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, however, explained that many Nigerians still stranded in foreign countries were awaiting evacuation.

According to the Punch, she also said that the FG evacuated 501 citizens on September 11 and 18, 2019 during the xenophobic attacks on foreigners in South Africa.

She stated,

“Currently, as COVID-19 is still on the rampage, the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Nigerian Missions around the world have evacuated and still evacuating stranded Nigerians across the world so far, we have evacuated 806 from the US; UK (831); Saudi Arabia (117); Egypt (372); France (70); India (540); UAE (1,405); Turkey (324); Sudan (365) and Uganda & Kenya (172).”

Others are Senegal, 17; Pakistan, 56; Egypt, 102; China, 268; Malaysia and Thailand, 247; Lebanon, 147; Canada, 51; South Africa, 324 and Ghana, 205.

According to Dabiri-Erewa, with the support of Air Peace Nigeria Ltd, there had been multiple evacuations from some countries.

International Flights  may Resume before October

The minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, says international flights may resume before October

He revealed this via Twitter while refuting reports earlier circulated that international flights were slated to resume October. He also said that the Nigerian Airspace Management Authority had already issued a 90 day notice to this effect.

See his tweet below:

International Flight resumption date is not October. NAMA just issued a routine 90 day Notices to Airmen (NOTAM). In liaison with Health, Foreign Affairs & PTF COVID-19, we will announce the agreed date, regardless of the ban by Europe, UAE etc. May be earlier than October. ????

— Hadi Sirika (@hadisirika) July 21, 2020

Florida Teachers sue Government to stop Schools Reopening

Teachers in Florida have filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the state’s emergency order that forces schools to open next month, CNN reports.

The president of the Florida Education Association, Fedrick Ingram, announced the suit against Governor Ron DeSantis, Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran, Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Giménez, the Florida Department of Education and the Florida State Board of Education.

About 23,000 children in the state have tested positive for COVID-19, Ingram told CNN on Tuesday.

“It’s unfortunate that we have a governor that is playing politics with children’s lives, with teachers’ lives, with cafeteria workers and bus drivers and secretaries, and people who really want to get back into our public schools. These are not circumstances in which we have business as usual, we cannot be guided by politics, nor can we be guided by the economy. We must keep kids alive, we must keep them healthy and safe.”

While talking about the governments executive order, Ingram said ,

“We believe that that is reckless, we believe that it is unconscionable, and we also believe that the executive order is unconstitutional. No one wants to be back in a classroom and reopen our school more than educators, but we want to do it safely. And we don’t want to put people at risk.”

Florida has more than 360,000 coronavirus cases and more than 5,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University‘s tally. More than 9,500 people are hospitalized with the virus in the state.

UK Visa Application Centres open July 28

According to the Punch, The British High Commission in Nigeria has said Visa application centres in the country would open from July 28 2020.

The Commission noted that Nigerians hoping to visit the UK could do so once international flights resume.

The British High Commission in Abuja had in a statement said visa application centres which were initially suspended due to the pandemic would reopen “when it is safe to do”.

The commission said,

“We know there are many Nigerian nationals hoping to travel to the UK when flights resume, both for employment and to see family members.UKVI are working closely with TSL contact, our commercial partner, to reopen visa application centres that were suspended due to COVID-19,”

The commission shared an update on Monday via Twitter confirming the reopening date for Visa application centres.

See Tweet Below:

UPDATE on visas. Thank you to everyone for your questions and patience.

But remember application centres open from 28 July.

This TLS link explains the processes in place for replacement 30 day vignettes. https://t.co/hI9wAaadTr

— UK in Nigeria?? (@UKinNigeria) July 19, 2020