Good morning and Merry Christmas.
It’s holiday season and this one is super-short so you can get back to marinating your chicken. This morning we are focusing on how Covid is shaping Christmas in Nigeria, the Brexit trade deal and Alibaba’s big problem with Chinese regulators.
Christmas in the time of Covid
How are you spending Christmas today? I’ll guess: at home, or maybe on the road to meet up with loved ones. But whatever you are doing, the spectre of Covid hangs above like the sword of Damocles. Clubs, parks, concerts have been shuttered to limit the spread of the virus. In their Christmas messages, the President and most State Governors emphasised the need for citizens to comply with Covid health protocols.
Meanwhile, the Presidential Task Force for Covid on Thursday announced new travel rules for passengers coming into the country from South Africa and the UK, where new variants of the virus have been discovered. A special register, to track whether these set of passengers present for Covid, has been created at the airports.
Speaking during the PTF media briefing on Thursday, the Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Dr Chikwe Iheakwazu said the agency was yet to find the UK Covid variant in the country. “However, we are doing more sequencing,” he said. “Is it possible that they are circulating? Yes. This is because there are a lot of travels between the UK and Nigeria.”
NCDC: The health agency reported 1,041 new cases on Christmas eve.
Sanwo-Olu: The Lagos State Governor has been recounting his experience after he recovered from Covid. He said he felt headache, cough, and tiredness. “I had a big bout I must tell you,” he said.
Exposé: The PTF will, this weekend, publish a list of 100 Nigerian passport numbers, not names, that will be suspended for a minimum of six months. Their crime? They flouted Covid obligations by failing to test after seven days of arrival in Nigeria from overseas travel.
Finally, a Brexit deal
A perfect Christmas gift? After 11 months of tough negotiations, Britain and the European Union negotiators finally struck a deal acceptable to both sides.
But the deal must still be ratified by the British and European Parliaments and, despite running to thousands of pages, leaves out critical parts of the relationship to be worked out later.
Analysis: The New York Times’ Mark Landler believes the rise of national populism and Covid may have rendered the Brexit deal outdated.
Dig Deeper: One of the main components of the agreement is fishing rights. The Atlantic’s Tom McTague analyses how that almost derailed the negotiations. “What sense was there in risking the U.K.’s entire economy over fish?” He asks.
What else is happening?
Buhari: The President is asking Nigerians to tap into the goodwill of Christmas to renew their faith in the ability of his administration to make a lasting difference.
Metuh: The former spokesman of the Peoples Democratic Party has been released from prison after ten months in custody. He had been sentenced to 39 years in prison for money laundering but a Court of Appeal quashed his conviction, ordering a retrial.
Ethiopia: The military has killed more than 40 men suspected to be linked to the massacre of at least 100 people, including children, in the western region of Benishangul-Gumuz.
Alibaba: China’s market regulator has opened an antitrust investigation into the giant e-commerce company. “This is an important step in strengthening antimonopoly oversight in the internet sphere,” an article in a government newspaper said. Alibaba’s New York-listed shares fell more than 13 percent on Thursday.
And that’s it for today. Have a lovely holiday and see you on Monday.
P.S. If you have a nice Christmas read, please forward them to me.