TheCable

Nigeria recorded 161 cases of COVID-19 on Friday. Here are five updates about the pandemic this Saturday.

FG to support research on local COVID-19 vaccines production

President Muhammadu Buhari says his administration will support pharmaceutical research agencies to developed COVID-19 vaccines locally.

Buhari disclosed this on Friday while delivering an address to mark Nigeria’s 61 Independence.

“​We must act now to accelerate the equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. This is the message I conveyed to the international community in New York last week,” the president said.

“As we push to source vaccines for our immediate needs, we shall invest more to support our pharmaceutical and research agencies to come up with ideas for locally developed vaccines.”

Morocco to administer third dose of COVID vaccine

Morocco says it will soon commence administering a third dose of the COVID vaccine to people.

The north African country has reportedly vaccinated 19.8 million people out of its about 36 million population.

Using mostly Sinopharm, AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines, the country is also said to have administered the highest number of doses in the continent.

Cuba to fully vaccinate 90% of residents by December

Cuba has accelerated its COVID vaccination campaign with the target of fully vaccinating 90 percent of its population in December.

The government said the vaccination exercise is being done with its locally-made vaccine.

“We will be the first in the world to reach everyone with our own vaccines,” Ileana Morales, director of science and innovation, said.

Nigeria records 161 infections

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) confirmed 161 COVID-19 cases across 12 states and the federal capital territory (FCT).

According to the agency’s update for October 1, the states that recorded new infections are Lagos (45), Kaduna (32), Ondo (28), Kwara (12), Rivers (11), Edo (8), Ekiti (5), Niger (5), Zamfara (5), Plateau (4), Nasarawa (3), FCT (2), and Oyo (1).

The NCDC said 181 persons recovered from the virus on Friday and were discharged.

The agency’s data also showed that three persons died of the infection.

Nigeria now has a total number of 205,926 confirmed COVID-19 cases; 193,798 recoveries; and 2,723 deaths across the 36 states and the FCT.

FDA advisers to review COVID vaccine for kids 

An advisory panel of experts to the US Food and Drugs Administration will schedule a meeting this month to review data on the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for young children.

The panel will also consider whether to clear booster doses of Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines.