The 43 people who are Nigerian and Chinese nationals are isolated in Wase town and Bakin Kaya village, a mining community in the local government area.

The State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Nimkong Ndam confirmed all those in isolation had not been to Jos and their period of isolation would elapsed on the 10th and 11th of this month based on the period they were isolated.

Speaking with journalists in his office, Ndam and his Information and Communication counterpart, Dan Manjang appealed to residents not to be afraid because presently, there is no case of coronavirus in Plateau State. He further explained that they received a communication from the  Nigerian Immigration Service that On Friday, 28th February, 2020, three Chinese nationals were in the State, a team was sent to Wase immediately and what we discovered was that they were not three but four. The first came in on the 25th of February, he flew from China to Addis Ababa to Abuja, the three came in on the 26th. “They were screened in Addis Ababa and in Abuja and they drove to Wase, to a mining site at Bakin Kaya and met with two of their colleagues who are also Chinese. The two on ground were not comfortable with their presence since they were just coming from somewhere so they needed to be isolated for at least 14 days. They’ve presented their screening cards, they are not showing any symptoms of the disease.

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At Least 21 Killed in Attack on Ngarbuh Village; Set Independent Inquiry.  Government forces and armed ethnic Fulani killed at least 21 civilians in Cameroon’s Ngarbuh village, including 13 children and 1 pregnant woman, on February 14, 2020. They also burned five homes, pillaged scores of other properties, and beat residents. Some of the bodies of the victims were found burned inside their homes. The government denies that its troops have deliberately committed crimes.

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The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), has introduced a nationwide Medium Mass Registration Program (MMRP) to provide tailored and critical hand-holding services to the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) operating in the informal sector.

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Vice President of Iran for Women and Family Affairs, Masoumeh Ebtekar, has tested positive to the coronavirus, according to a report on Aljazeera.

Iranian officials had on Tuesday confirmed that Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi had tested positive to the virus and was under quarantine.

The report said Ebtekar was the English-language spokeswoman for the 1979 hostage-takers who seized the US embassy in Tehran and sparked the 444-day diplomatic crisis

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Ecobank Nigeria on Thursday disclosed that it has resolve to send an appeal to the Federal High Court, on the judgement of the Tax Appeal Tribunal (TAT), sitting in Lagos, in respect of a disputed tax liability between the bank and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) for the 2015 financial year.

The bank explained in a statement, that the decision of the TAT was, “for it to pay excess dividend tax on the dividend sum of N5,545,000,000 declared by the Bank from its 2015 financial accounts

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The Federal Ministry of Health has confirmed a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) case in Lagos State, Nigeria.

A statement issued by the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, in the early hours of Friday said the case, which was confirmed on February 27, was the first case to be reported in Nigeria since the beginning of the outbreak in China in January 2020.

The statement said, “the case is an Italian citizen who works in Nigeria and returned from Milan, Italy to Lagos, Nigeria on the 25th of February 2020.

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The coronavirus is spreading more quickly in Europe, the Middle East, and other parts of the world than in China where the virus first emerged in the central city of Wuhan at the end of last year.

The number of new infections inside China was for the first time overtaken by fresh cases elsewhere on Wednesday, with Italy, Iran and South Korea emerging as new hotspots for COVID-19

The disease was also detected for the first time in Estonia, Denmark, Georgia, Brazil, Pakistan, Sweden, Norway, Greece, Romania and Algeria.

Swiss confirm three new coronavirus cases

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Switzerland has risen to four, the country's health authority said.

In the western canton of Geneva one person was tested positive for the virus while it was also confirmed in a couple in the southeastern Alpine canton of Grisons, it added.

"All three patients are isolated in the hospital. Their condition is good," the Federal Office of Public Health said.

Iranian official confirmed infected with coronavirus

Head of Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Relations Commission says he is infected with COVID-19.

The United Kingdom said two additional patients tested positive for the new coronavirus, which was passed on in Italy and Spain's Tenerife. The latest cases raised the total number of infections to 15, including eight recovered patients.

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President Paul Kagame on Wednesday evening reshuffled the cabinet making major changes to key ministries notably Health and Education.

Dr Daniel Ngamije was appointed Minister of Health, replacing Dr Diane Gashumba who resigned two weeks ago.

Dr Daniel Ngamije previously worked for the World Health Organisation.

Valentine Uwamariya was named Minister for Education, replacing Eugene Mutimura. Mutimura was appointed as the Head of Science and Technology Commission.

Uwamariya was the Deputy Vice-Chancellor in Charge of Trainings, Institutional Development and Research at Rwanda Polytechnic and also a senior lecturer at University of Rwanda.

In the same ministry, Gaspard Twagirayezu was appointed Minister of State in charge of Primary and Secondary Education. He replaced Isaac Munyakazi who also stepped down two weeks ago following corruption-related charges.

Inès Mpambara who was previously serving as Director of Cabinet in the Office of the President was appointed Minister in charge of Cabinet Affairs.

There were also changes at the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion where Minister Jeannette Bayisenge takes over from Solina Nyirahabimana.

Nyirahabimana was moved to serve as Minister of State in Charge of Constitutional and Legal Affairs. She replaces Evode Uwizeyimana, who resigned after he physically assaulted a private security guard on duty.

Marie-Solange Kayisire, who previously held the docket of Cabinet Affairs, was appointed Minister in Charge of Emergency Management.

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The Bank of Ghana says it will not hesitate to penalize persons who flout the Foreign Exchange Act by pricing and taking payments for goods and services in any currency apart from the Ghana cedi.

The BoG’s comment follows viral images of a shop attendant at Palace Hypermarket on the Spintex Road in Accra accepting dollars for payment from a customer for goods purchased.

A team from the Central bank led by Esi Hammond, Head of Communications, in a market surveillance on Wednesday, visited the premises of Palace Hypermarket where it met engaged management of the shop

“We support our stakeholders to alert them about the need to observe the rules and regulations of the land particularly with respect to the Foreign Exchange Act which prohibits pricing in any other currency apart from the Ghana cedi.”

“It has come to our notice that a few shops, schools and other institutions are charging in dollars. So, today we paid a visit to the Palace Mall and initially did a few shopping around to see what happens here. We realized that some shops are willing to take dollars as payment for goods purchased. So we had to engage them and let them know that this contravenes the Foreign Exchange Act,” Ms. Hammond said.

The team visited other shops including one that had the inscription of a forex bureau, but did not have the license to operate as such.

The BoG officials interrogated the General Manager of the facility, Nana Kofi, who insisted that despite the inscription, there is no forex bureau operating at the premises but rather a travel and tour agency.

The central bank’s team directed that the inscription be taken off and for the management to apply for a license to operate a forex bureau if they intend to carry out such a business.

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In a selling frenzy that cast a shadow over EOH’s recovery plan, shares in the troubled technology group have slumped by more than three quarters so far this year to levels last seen more than 15 years ago.

EOH, which has its stock hovering at levels last seen in 2004, is in the middle of cleaning up its balance sheet following allegations of underhanded dealings with the government, forcing the company into taking billions of rand in writedown charges and losing nearly R1bn,

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