TheCable

Nigeria recorded 228 cases of COVID-19 on Sunday. Here are five updates about the pandemic this Monday. 

BELGIUM EASES COVID RESTRICTIONS

Belgium has announced a slight easing of its COVID-19 restrictions.

It is also resolved that people will need booster shots after five months to maintain COVID-19 passes giving access to bars or cinemas.

Prime Minister Alexander De Croo extended opening for bars and restaurants to midnight from 11pm, allowed indoor activities such as play areas and bowling alleys to reopen and said venues with good ventilation could host more people than now.

The changes will apply from next Friday.

“The reason we can do this is the fact that we have such a high vaccination rate,” De Croo told a news conference, adding that vaccinated people were half as likely to catch COVID and 90% less likely to need to go to hospital if they did.

OVER 400 CASES OF OMICRON SUB-VARIANT BA.2 DISCOVERED IN UK

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) says 426 cases of a new Omicron variant dubbed BA.2 has been detected in the UK, adding that it has categorised the variant as a “variant under investigation”.

The UKHSA said further analysis will be carried out into BA.2 to determine its characteristics and better understand how it could shape Britain’s epidemic in the weeks to come.

Meera Chand, incident director at the UKHSA, said it is not yet clear if the sub-variant causes more severe disease, adding it is natural for viruses to mutate.

“So far, there is insufficient evidence to determine whether BA.2 causes more severe illness than Omicron BA.1, but data is limited and UKHSA continues to investigate,” Chand said.

FOURTH DOSE GIVEN TO THOSE OVER 60 INCREASES PROTECTION, SAYS ISRAEL

Israel’s health ministry says fourth dose of COVID-19 vaccine given to people over 60 in Israel made them three times more resistant to serious illness than thrice-vaccinated people in the same age group.

The ministry also said the fourth dose doubled resistance against infection compared with those in the age group who received only three shots of the vaccine.

Israel began offering a fourth dose of the Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine to people over 60 earlier this month, Reuters reports.

NIGERIA RECORDS 228 INFECTIONS

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) says 228 cases were recorded in 13 states and the federal capital territory (NCDC).

A breakdown of the new cases is shown below:

FCT-110

Gombe-38

Lagos-32

Osun-14

Taraba-12

Imo-5

Kaduna-5

Rivers-4

Borno-2

Kano-2

Bauchi-1

Delta-1

Ekiti-1

Ogun-1

According to the agency’s records, 462 persons were discharged after recovering from the infection.

There were no fatalities on Sunday, leaving the total number of deaths at 3,124.

The agency said 110 confirmed cases reported for the FCT for January 22 (99) and 23 (11); 19 confirmed cases reported for Taraba state for January 17 (12) and 22 (7); and two confirmed cases reported for Borno state for January 21.

The NCDC said the report also includes 10 discharged cases reported for the FCT for January 22 (8) and 23 (2); and 308 community discharges for January 22 (100) and 23 (208).

So far, 252,187 cases have been confirmed with 226,408 recoveries.

WHO: OMICRON COVID VARIANT MAY BRING END TO PANDEMIC IN EUROPE

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says Omicron variant has moved the COVID-19 pandemic into a new phase and could bring it to an end in Europe.

Hans Kluge, WHO Europe director, said “it’s plausible that the region is moving towards a kind of pandemic endgame,” adding that Omicron could infect 60% of Europeans by March.

He said once the surge of Omicron currently sweeping across Europe subsides, “there will be for quite some weeks and months a global immunity, either thanks to the vaccine or because people have immunity due to the infection, and also lowering seasonality”.

“We anticipate that there will be a period of quiet before Covid-19 may come back towards the end of the year, but not necessarily the pandemic coming back,” he said.