Daily COVID Tracker: NCDC reports 168 infections in 11 states, 275 recoveries

September 20

07:29 2021

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Nigeria on Sunday recorded 168 COVID-19 infections. Here are five updates about the pandemic this Monday.

Ex-UK PM: Stockpiled COVID vaccines should be donated to poor countries

Gordon Brown, former UK prime minister, has asked that a COVID vaccine conference be convened by US President Joe Biden on Wednesday, to send 100 million doses to poor countries.

Brown said the vaccine doses are being stockpiled in rich countries and will expire by December without being used.

Africa is lagging behind in COVID vaccination. Out of 5.7 billion vaccine doses administered around the world, the continent accounts for only 2%.

“We need a plan to distribute vaccines quickly,” Brown, said.

“It will be a profound and collective political tragedy if this summit misses the opportunity to act with doses transferred immediately to poorer countries.

“It is unthinkable and unconscionable that 100 million vaccines will have to be thrown away from the stockpiles of the rich countries whilst the populations of the world’s poorest countries will pay for our vaccine waste in lives lost”.

He added that “no one is safe anywhere until everyone is safe everywhere”.

COVID-19: Lagos’ vaccination rate far below WHO recommendation, says Sanwo-Olu

Babajide Sanwo-Olu, governor of Lagos, says the COVID-19 vaccination rate in the state is currently “far below” the recommended target by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Sanwo-Olu said this at the 2021 Global Citizen Live Concert held at Afrika Shrine in Ikeja on Saturday.

The governor said Lagos pursues radical vaccination programmes, which have led to the administration of 16,000 jabs of vaccines daily. This, the governor said, is a far cry from what was projected for achieving herd immunity.

“Our vaccination rate is far below the minimum target of 60 percent recommended by the World Health Organisation per city population. At the current rate, it would take about three years to achieve our herd immunity target. We cannot continue at this speed if we seriously want to beat this virus,” he said.

Singapore primary schools to move online as COVID infections surge

Singapore has ordered primary schools to move to online (home-based) learning for 10 days ahead of a key national examination.

The measure, the government said, is to curtail the sharp rise in the number of COVID infections.

Students from primary one to five will move to home-based learning from September 27 to October 6, while primary six students will go on a study break for a few days from September 25.

“With the PSLE (Primary School Leaving Examination) written paper examinations approaching, we will undertake further measures to protect students who are not yet medically eligible for vaccination and give parents and students greater peace of mind,” Chan Chun Sing, minister of education, said.

Nigeria records 168 new infections

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) says 168 people tested positive for coronavirus on Sunday.

The latest positive samples of COVID-19 were recorded in 10 states and the federal capital territory (FCT), according to the agency’s update for September 19, 2021.

Lagos, the hardest-hit state by the pandemic, topped the COVID-19 infection chart with 75 new cases, followed by Abia and Niger with 26 and 20 positive samples, respectively.

Other states that recorded new infections include FCT (15), Benue (8), Ogun (8), Osun (7), Edo (3), Kaduna (2), Kano (2) and Ondo (2).

The NCDC data shows that 275 patients were discharged after recovering from COVID-19.

The agency said the recoveries reported include a “backlog of discharged cases for Niger State from 11th September till date, including community discharges managed in line with guidelines”.

One person died of COVID-19 complications on Sunday, raising the country’s fatality toll to 2,655.

A total of 201,798 COVID-19 cases have now been confirmed — out of which 190,563 persons have been discharged.

Vietnam approves Cuba’s COVID vaccine for use

Vietnam has approved Cuba’s Abdala COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use.

The approval makes it the eighth COVID-19 vaccine to be authorised in the south-east Asian country. Vietnam has seen a surge in infections in recent weeks.

“The ministry of health has approved Abdala vaccine, based on the country’s urgent need for its COVID-19 fight,” the government said in a statement.