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Nigeria on Wednesday recorded 1,149 cases of COVID-19. Here are five updates about the pandemic this Thursday. 

Afreximbank to deliver 40m doses of J&J COVID vaccine to Nigeria by 2022

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) says it will supply a total of 40 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine to Nigeria by 2022.

Benedict Oramah, president of the bank, disclosed this in Abuja while updating Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo on some of the bank’s projects across Nigeria.

Oramah said Afreximbank was investing in trade and health infrastructure and was also involved in the procurement and distribution of COVID vaccines to African countries including Nigeria.

No data supports COVID booster shots, says WHO

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says current data does not indicate that COVID-19 booster shots are needed.

Soumya Swaminathan, WHO chief scientist, said this on Wednesday while fielding questions at a news conference in Geneva.

Swaminathan said most vulnerable people worldwide should be fully vaccinated before high-income countries deploy a third dose.

“We believe clearly that the data today does not indicate that boosters are needed,” Swaminathan said.

The comment comes amid moves by some countries including the United States to offer booster shots to people to fight the surge in infections linked to the Delta variant.

Nigeria logs 1,149 infections 

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has recorded 1,149 cases of COVID-19.

The latest figure is the highest single-day figure since February 16 when the agency reported 1,572 cases.

On Wednesday, the agency said the cases were reported in 15 states and the federal capital territory (FCT).

Lagos, the hardest-hit state, reported 680 cases, followed by Rivers with 157 infections, while Akwa Ibom is third on the chart with 94 cases.

Other states that recorded infections are Oyo (56), Edo (36), FCT (34), Ogun (31), Ekiti (20), Delta (16), Abia (5), Nasarawa (5), Osun (5), Cross River (4), Plateau (3), Sokoto (2), and Kano (1).

The NCDC update showed that 279 people were discharged on Wednesday, while seven persons succumbed to the virus.

So far, the NCDC has confirmed a total of 184,593 COVID-19 cases across the country, with 167,738 recoveries. 2,236 have died of the infection.

Facebook removes dozens of anti-COVID vaccine accounts

Facebook says it has removed dozens of accounts spreading misinformation about COVID-19 vaccination.

The development comes weeks after the White House asked the social media giant to tighten controls on pandemic-related facts shared on their platforms.

A recent report by the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) had shown that 12 anti-vaccine accounts are spreading nearly two-thirds of anti-vaccine misinformation online.

Facebook, at the time, disputed the methodology behind the report, but on Wednesday it said the accounts have been closed.

“We have also imposed penalties on nearly two dozen additional pages, groups or accounts linked to these 12 people,” Facebook said in a blogpost.

India plans COVID-19 vaccine for children aged two to 18

Priya Abraham, director of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), says children aged two to 18 years old in India may be vaccinated against COVID-19 with an indigenous jab by September.

Speaking on the ongoing phase II and III trials of Covaxin for children in the age group, Abraham said, “hopefully, the results (of the trials) are going to be available very soon”.

“The results will be presented to the regulators. So, by September or just after it, we may have COVID-19 vaccines for children,” he was quoted to have said.

COVID-19 IN NIGERIA