Nigeria has crossed 45, 000 marks of Coronavirus as it recorded three more deaths from the infections.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control which revealed the latest figure, also said the country recorded 354 fresh COVID-19 cases for the day.
Nigeria’s latest COVID-19 infections were confirmed in 16 states and the Federal Capital Territory, taking the country’s tally to 45,244.
A breakdown of the new infections from the virus indicated that the FCT had the highest number of fresh cases – 78 – and is followed by the country’s COVID-19 epicentre, Lagos – 76 – and Kaduna-23.
Other states with confirmed cases of COVID-19 include Ebonyi – 19; Oyo – 18; Nasarawa – 17; Rivers – 17; Delta -16; Kwara – 15; Akwa Ibom – 13; Edo – 12 and Ogun -12.
The presidential task force on COVID-19 has called for caution and strict compliance with guidelines as schools reopen for students in exit class.
At Monday’s briefing, Secretary to the Government of the Federation and Chairman of the taskforce, Boss Mustapha said the team is concerned that if not handled properly, school resumption could cause increased community transmission of the virus.
Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire said Nigeria recorded a decline in positive COVID-19 cases from 17.2% in June to 11% in July.
However, Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba said he is monitoring developments in schools across the country while lauding Principals of unity Colleges for the comprehensive preparation put in place ahead of resumption.
The minister had held a virtual meeting with Commissioners of Education in 36 States and other stakeholders and he shared the outcome of the meeting during an interview at the PTF briefing.
Nigeria has recorded 288 new cases of coronavirus, the lowest figure since the 8th of June, bringing its total infections to 44,129.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control disclosed this saying the new infections were recorded in Lagos, the Federal Capital Territory and 13 other states of the federation.
While Lagos topped the list with 88 new cases, the FCT reported 25 fresh infections.
The other states with new cases include Kwara – 33, Osun – 27, Enugu – 25, Abia – 20, Kaduna – 17, Plateau and Rivers – 13, Delta – 10, Gombe – 8.
Others include Ogun – 4, Oyo – 3, Katsina and Bauchi with 1 each.
20,663 people said to have recovered from the virus have been discharged while a total of 896 patients have died.
“It started a year ago, and at the time, it wasn’t a grand idea; it was a video,” Fordjour tells ET’s Kevin Frazier. “We had just finished ‘Spirit.’ That was the first visual from the album, and she wanted to release more visuals. We were discussing what we would do, what the process would be, and that’s how it all started.”
“For me, it’s pretty exciting,” he adds, of what it’s like working on such a massive production. “Your adrenaline starts to rush and it becomes like, ‘OK, what are we going to do, how are we going to do it, where do we start?’ When you get into the space where you’re so interested and enthralled with creating worlds and spaces, it becomes fun, and she makes it fun.”
Fordjour tells ET that Black Is King was filmed in several locations, from South Africa to Belgium to London, and even Bey’s home in Los Angeles.
“The tree shot in ‘Already,’ that was her backyard,” he reveals. “Yeah, that was the adrenaline [rushing] because she was like, ‘I want to shoot, let’s do it. Let’s start at my house.’ I was like, ‘Hell yeah, let’s do it!’ So we scouted and we found the tree that felt like it was the most relative to The Lion King.“
“Because it was the first video, that video took the longest to shoot,” he adds. “I want to say we shot that one across maybe like 4-5 days.”
“You have to be prepared,” she exclaimed. “If she says, ‘I just want to shoot, I think it would be really nice in a T-shirt,’ I’m like, OK, 10 ball gowns, please. Just in case! Because more likely than not, we get there and it’s like, ‘Oh, it’s so beautiful, we need something more grand.’ And we kind of allow it to shape-shift.”
Akers always makes sure to pack some extra items for Blue, too, as she is consistently surprising the crew. “The cool thing about Blue that not a lot of people know is that a lot of times she chooses when she wants to [be involved],” Akers shares. “She may see her mother doing a shot she thinks is cool. When she sees something in it, she may be like, ‘I want to do that, can I have a turn to do that?'”
“She gets up and she just kind of does her thing,” she adds. “It all kind of comes to life.”