Nigeria on Thursday confirmed 290 fresh cases of COVID-19 with the number of recovered persons now 33,346.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) disclosed the latest COVID-19 figure in a tweet on its handle.
Details later…
Premier League champions Liverpool signed Greece defender Kostas Tsimikas from Olympiakos for a reported fee of £11.7 million ($15 million) on Monday.
Tsimikas agreed to a five-year contract with Liverpool and is expected to provide back-up for first-choice left-back Andy Robertson at Anfield.
Reds boss Jurgen Klopp moved for the 24-year-old after opting not to pay Norwich’s asking price for their Northern Ireland left-back Jamal Lewis.
Tsimikas is Liverpool’s first close-season signing and he told the club’s website: “I’m very happy, I’m very proud to be here. For me, (it is) the biggest club in the world.
“The league here, I like a lot. I watch it on the TV and it was always one dream I had from when I was a kid to come to play in this league.
“(I want) to achieve (our) goals. To win the league again and also to win the Champions League.”
Tsimikas, capped three times by Greece, made 86 appearances for Olympiakos in all competitions and has also had loan spells with Danish club Esbjerg and Dutch team Willem II.
🔴 𝗧 𝗦 𝗜 𝗠 𝗜 𝗞 𝗔 𝗦 #𝟮𝟭 🔴 pic.twitter.com/MPEHUcxZIA
— Liverpool FC (Premier League Champions 🏆) (@LFC) August 10, 2020
He played 27 times in the league last season, winning the first major honour of his career as Olympiakos clinched the Greek title.
“We have watched Kostas for a long time and are really happy that he has joined us. It’s the perfect news before we come back together very soon,” Klopp said.
“He is a very good footballer with an attitude to win and to compete, and I really like his mentality. It fits perfectly with the mood and the desire we have in our dressing room already.
“Kostas knows from personal experience what is required to challenge and succeed domestically and in the Champions League, and he is ambitious for more, just like us.”
AFP
Bruno Fernandes scored a penalty in extra time as Manchester United scraped past FC Copenhagen 1-0 on Monday in the quarter-finals of the Europa League, reshaped into an eight-team straight knockout tournament in Germany due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Portugal international notched his competition-best seventh goal of the season as United set up a semi-final clash against Sevilla or Wolves, joining Inter Milan in the last four following the Italian side’s 2-1 victory over Bayer Leverkusen in Dusseldorf.
AFP
Two persons were killed on Sunday when a group of angry youths attacked the palace of Oba Victor Bobade, the traditional ruler of Ire Ekiti, a town in Ekiti State.
The incident which occurred in the evening in Oye Local Government Area of the state is said to have forced the king to flee the town.
Channels Television gathered that violence erupted when the monarch refused to allow the people gather in their large number to celebrate the annual Ogun festival, a request the traditional ruler was contrary to COVID-19 protocols and government rules.
The Police Public Relations Officer in Ekiti, Sunday Abutu, confirmed the incident to Channels Television on Monday.
He also revealed that two persons lost their lives as a result of the violence, while the monarch decried that the irate youths set his property ablaze.
Oba Bobade condemned the incident and frowned at the action and ignorance of those involved in the violence.
“Coronavirus kills honourables, kills governors, kills whoever; I don’t know why my people will descend so low, they are daft.
“I sensitised them, but they just don’t want to know,” the traditional ruler told Channels Television in an interview.
He revealed that after the violence broke out, a team of policemen deployed to calm the situation could not contain it.
Oba Bobade noted that the security operatives, however, succeeded in whisking him away to safety.
He said, “In my residence, they came there but couldn’t find me anyway, but I was in there. They started throwing stones, breaking everything breakable in the palace.
“They destroyed everything, including the vehicle of the policemen. I had to break a fence before those policemen on the ground could find their way to escape.”
In his reaction, the Chairman of the State Task Force on COVID-19, Professor Bolaji Aluko, condemned the incident, stating that the relevant authorities would swing into action to restore normalcy to the town.
The “Ogun” festival which is linked to a god of iron has been the major festival celebrated by the people of Ire Ekiti as history has it that the valiant Ogun immortalised himself in the town.
Romelu Lukaku scored as Inter Milan defeated Bayer Leverkusen 2-1 in Monday’s Europa League quarter-final in Dusseldorf, becoming the first team through to the last four of a mini-tournament behind closed doors in Germany.
Three-time former winners Inter struck first through Nicolo Barella as he guided in from the edge of the area on 15 minutes, with Lukaku bundling in a second six minutes later.
Kai Havertz reduced the deficit in possibly his final game for Leverkusen with a well-worked goal on 25 minutes after exchanging passes with fellow Germany international Kevin Volland, but Inter held on to seal their place in the semi-finals.
Antonio Conte’s side will take on Ukrainian champions Shakhtar Donetsk or Swiss club Basel next Monday in Dusseldorf for a place in the final on August 21.
AFP