BAKKACIMA BLOG

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has said there is no evidence that face shields alone can protect against COVID-19. The Director General of the NCDC, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, said this during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja. The warning follows the new trend of Nigerians wearing face shields in public settings. The NCDC director said there is evidence that a face shield might reduce exposure in healthcare workers but not meant to function alone as protection. “Presently there is no evidence on the effectiveness of face shields for community use by the public.  “Face shields are most important in healthcare settings to protect healthcare workers during healthcare processes.  “We do not have evidence at the moment that using face shields outside healthcare settings can protect members of the community. He warned that the use of face shields should not be promoted until there is sufficient evidence. "Face shields are used in comb...

STOPCOVID App was released three weeks ago and the French government will be holding a press conference today to give an update on the app. In particular, this conference is a good opportunity to share some numbers. Over the past three weeks, 1.9 million people downloaded the app on the App Store or Play Store. Out of those 1.9 million people, 1,814,048 users opened the app and activated  STOPCOVID . The app can be disabled and you can also delete your personal data whenever you want. 23,953 people have deactivated the app over the past three weeks. And 460,000 people simply uninstalled the app. The government has little information about who’s using the app and where  because it doesn’t ask you to register with your name and address. So, the government will run surveys to learn more.  The government also says that people may feel like the coronavirus outbreak is over in France — there are still new cases every day so it’s far from over.

The Australian government's new coronavirus contact tracing app which was released on Sunday, was downloaded 1million times in just 5 hours of launch, that is, approximately 1 out of every 25 Australians is using the app.   COVIDSafe  uses Bluetooth to connect with other phones within 1.5 metres (4.9 feet) which also have the app installed. If they are in contact for over 15 minutes (fiftheen minutes), the app records data such as the date, time, contact distance and duration, and the other user's encrypted identification code. This information is stored on the user's phone for 21 days, after which it is automatically deleted.