The Head of the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) Joh Sung-wook told a parliamentary panel that following ongoing probes into the tech giant, the agency intends to launch two separate suits.

“The KFTC is currently conducting a probe related to Google’s operating system and another on its app store,” Joh said.

“We will try to wrap up one of the cases by the end of this year.”

The first case will focus on allegations that Google obstructed South Korean smartphone manufacturers from installing rival operating systems on their devices.

The second case centres around Google’s moves to force all gaming apps on its play store use its proprietary billing system and claim a 30 per cent commission on all purchases.

Joh told the South Korean parliament that such behaviour harmed market competition and that Google was capable of such moves only because it had no substantial competition.

The announcement comes days after the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Google on accusations of illegally propping up its market dominance.

Earlier in the year, Australia also presented draft legislation targeting Google, as well as Facebook, over undue power over the news business market.

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“From Monday onwards, a night-time curfew will be enforced between 9 pm and 4 am, while face masks will be compulsory in public places and a ban on the sale of alcohol will be reintroduced.

“The national “state of disaster” is also to be extended until Aug. 12.

“We are now recording well over 12,000 cases every day,” Ramaphosa said in a televised Sunday evening address to the nation.

He noted that too many South Africans were now relaxing their behaviour after restrictions were eased.

South Africa has confirmed 276,242 coronavirus cases to date, the president said.

The government imposed a nationwide lockdown at the end of March to stem the spread of the virus and give the country time to build up its health infrastructure.

However, the measures were then gradually eased again in May and June, although the sale of tobacco products has remained banned ever since.

The restrictions have had a devastating effect on the country’s economy, with millions struggling to survive, and levels of poverty and food insecurity dramatically worsening in just a few weeks.

Even before the pandemic, Africa’s second-largest economy was already in a difficult situation.

With high unemployment rates and brutal social inequality, the country has been struggling for years with structural economic problems and an unreliable electricity supply.

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Rafiu Ajakaye, Chief Press Secretary to the Governor and Spokesman of the Technical Committee on COVID-19, made this known in a statement on Sunday in Ilorin.

According to him, this brings to 132 the total number of confirmed cases, with 52 patients discharged and one death.

“As at 7:30p.m on Sunday, the number of active cases is 79 and 52 patients had so far been discharged and one death recorded,” said Ajakaye.

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The NCDC also said that six new patients had been confirmed dead to the virus in the country, bringing the total number of deaths to 98.

The agency on its confirmed twitter handle on Tuesday night said that the 148 new cases were recorded from 16 states.

“43-Lagos, 32-Kano, 14-Zamfara, 10-FCT, 9-Katsina, 7-Taraba, 6 each in Borno and Ogun, 5-Oyo, 3 each in Edo, Kaduna and Bauchi, 2 each in Adamawa and Gombe, while one each in Plateau, Sokoto and Kebbi States,” it said.

According to NCDC, as at 11;40 p.m. May 5, 2020, Nigeria has 2371 Active Cases of COVID-19 and 481 Treated and Discharged in the country.

The continuous increase in number of infections has risen due to the increased capacity for testing across the country.

It was reported that NCDC have continued the fight against the virus by activating its multi-partner, multi-sectoral Operations Centre (EOC) to coordinate response activities across states of the federation.

The National Rapid Response Team continues to support affected states. Surge RRT deployed to support Kano state response and engagement meeting with health professional association sustain the gains of the lockdown as easing commences.

NCDC has also continued to deploy medical commodities to affected states, planned continued mobilisation of resources and continued to establish surge capacities across all response pillars.

It was reported that the pandemic is an ongoing public health emergency of international concern caused by the COVID-19 virus, first identified by health authorities in Wuhan, China.

At the moment, the pandemic is affecting 213 countries around the world including one international conveyance (the Diamond Princess cruise ship) harbored in Yokohama, Japan.

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The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, confirmed this development at a news conference in Abuja.

Ehanire said that of the five new positive cases, three arrived from the United States, while two came in from UK.

He added that “we are still collating information on the travellers; two of the three from the U.S. are Nigerians, a mother and child, making the six-week old baby the youngest COVID-19 patient.

“The third is an American who crossed the land border and becomes the first COVID-19 case not arriving by air.

“The two cases from the UK are Nigerians,’’ he said.

According to the minister, a detailed travel history of each person is being compiled and contacts currently being traced to identify persons who have recently been in contact with anyone of them.

Ehanire said that the National Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) led by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and supported by partners is supporting response in the states.

“The Federal Government, through Federal Ministry of Health, is conducting risk assessment to help guide decision making.

“We urge citizens not to panic, but allow experts in public health to guide response in a calculated and scientific manner.

“False information and rumour to cause fear and panic must be avoided at such times.

“The COVID-19 cases so far appear to have mild symptoms and people recover from it.”

In addition, the minister urged Nigerians to protect themselves and their families, saying; “I urge everyone to continue to take care and caution as advised.

“Government will do the needful to protect citizens’ health,’’ he said.

He noted that the Presidential Task Force for the Control of Coronavirus (COVID-19) had on Tuesday announced interventions toward containing spread of the virus.

He listed the interventions as:

· Prohibition of all travel by public servants

· Suspension of visa on arrival policy till further notice.

· A firm travel advisory against non-essential travel to high burden countries, especially in view of the number of Nigerians who arrived from U.S. and Europe and diagnosed in the past 48 hours with coronavirus infection.

· A requirement that all persons returning from overseas should self-isolate for observation for 14-days, even if they feel well. NCDC will disseminate information on the practice.

· Supervised self-isolation, including testing of persons returning from nations with community transmission of more than 1,000 cases cumulatively for 14 days by NCDC and Port Health Services.

· Federal Government will restrict entry to Nigeria of persons from listed high burden countries with effect from Friday March 20 for a period of four weeks.

The countries are China, Japan, Iran, Italy, Republic of Korea, France, Germany and Spain.

· A reminder that citizens maintain hand hygiene and standard respiratory etiquette.

The minister, however, said FMoH, through NCDC would continue to provide accurate and reliable updates.

He stressed that “we will continue to provide updates as and when they are available, and take available measures to control spread of infectious disease outbreaks in Nigeria.”

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Dr Kunden Deyin, the state Commissioner for Health, told our reporter on Thursday in Jos that the first case recorded was imported from Port-Harcort, as the victim came in from Rivers for treatment.
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According to the commissioner, the infected victim eventually infected his brother and both of them were treated at the Bingham University Teaching Hospital in Jos and discharged.

Deyin said that the state’s Epidemiology and Surveilance unit of the ministry are still monitoring the contacts to curtail the spread of the disease.

The commissioner said that the symptoms of monkey pox were similar to that of chicken pox, but more severe. ‎

He said that the disease is primarily transmitted from animal to man while the secondary source of transmission is through human to human contact. ‎‎
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Deyin warned that people who kill, touch or cook bush animals, such as rats, squirrels and monkeys were at risk of contracting the disease as they serve as reservoirs of the virus.
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He cautioned the public to desist from indulging in such acts.
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‎Deyin also called on the public to report any sign of unexplained rashes to the nearest health facility.

He further disclosed that the number of suspected cases has risen from the initial 87 suspected cases on Tuesday to 126 suspected cases.
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However, he assured that the ministry is working in collaboration with the World Health Organisation, UNICEF, Doctors Without Borders and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control to contain the disease.

The commissioner further cautioned the public to ensure that they imbibe the act of hand washing and maintaining good hygiene as measures of preventing the disease.

Besides, Deyin further cautioned that people should desist from eating uncooked vegetables, raw fish, street foods and ensure that ‎they drink boiled water.

He also called on the public to report cases of diarrhoea and vomiting to the nearest health facility.

Our reporter recalls that the state had recorded five confirmed cases, three deaths from symptoms similar to cholera and 87 cases.

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