TheCable

Pfizer-BioNTech says its vaccine showed 100 percent efficacy against COVID-19 in 12 and 15-year-olds. Here are five updates about the pandemic this Thursday. 

South Africa loses 375 mine workers to COVID-19

South African minerals council on Tuesday said the sector lost 213 employees in 2020 and 162 in the first quarter of 2021 to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The council said 32,908 of its employees have contracted the coronavirus out of 473,750 staff members.

The council advised people to comply with the COVID protocol to stay safe.

“COVID-19 will not take a break over Easter. As far as possible, we must all continue to follow COVID-19 guidelines, stay at home, avoid group gatherings to reduce the spread of the virus during this time to protect ourselves and those we care about,’’ Thuthula Balfour, the council head of health, said.

Nigeria records 129 fresh infections, and one death

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) confirmed 129 fresh COVID-19 cases across 12 states and the federal capital territory (FCT) on Wednesday.

Wednesday’s data showed a marginal leap in the daily count of infections since on Sunday.

At the start of the week, 104 new cases were confirmed; the fresh infections declined to 48 on Monday — the lowest daily infection tally in 2021, then leaped by 152.08 percent to 121 fresh infections on Tuesday.

Lagos, the worst-hit state by COVID in Nigeria, recorded the highest number of new infections on Wednesday with 46 positive samples followed by Ondo which had 19.

Other states with new cases include Nasarawa (14), Kaduna (11), Borno (9), Bauchi (8), Akwa Ibom (5), FCT (5), Jigawa (4), Plateau (3), Bayelsa (2), Osun (2) and Rivers (1).

Also, 116 new recoveries were confined on Wednesday, including 62 community recoveries in Akwa Ibom, and 16 in Ogun.

With this, Nigeria’s total recovery tally currently stands at 151,648.

The NCDC reported that Nigeria recorded one death, raising the number of fatalities to 2,057.

The country has a total of 162,891 confirmed COVID-19 infections across 36 states and the FCT; with 9,186 active cases, and 1,767,694 samples tested.

Nigeria receives $15m grant for safe reopening of schools

Nigeria has been awarded a sum of $15 million as a response grant by the global partnership for education (GPE) for the safe reopening of schools amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Binta Abdulkadir, director of basic and secondary education in the ministry of education, disclosed this on Wednesday during a cluster mobilisation and sensitisation meeting on COVID-19 protocol, surveillance and safe school reopening readiness.

Abdulkadir, who was represented by Achede Owoicho, deputy director of basic and secondary education, said Nigeria got the grant as a result of previous engagements with GPE.

“At the end of our engagement with the GPE, a 15 million-dollar grant was given to Nigeria as part of the COVID-19 response grant for the country,” the director said.

“UNICEF was chosen as the grant agent to receive the monies and disburse, since global players do not give their money directly to the government.”

Italy makes COVID vaccines mandatory for healthcare workers

Italy has made the COVID-19 vaccine mandatory for all healthcare and pharmacy workers.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the government said the measure became necessary to protect medical staff, patients and vulnerable people who are at risk of infection.

Roberto Speranza, health minister, said there was “great satisfaction” on the new law, adding that winning the “health battle is a prerequisite for a real restart of the country”.

The new law implies that healthcare workers who refused to be vaccinated will be reassigned to places where they will not be in contact with patients.

Pfizer vaccine 100 percent effective in 12 and 15-year-olds

Pfizer-BioNTech on Wednesday said its vaccine showed 100 percent efficacy against the coronavirus in 12 and 15-year-olds.

The drugmaker said in the phase three trial of 2,260 participants age 12 and 15 in the US, the vaccine elicited strong antibody responses one month after the second dose — exceeding those demonstrated in people age 16 and 25 in previous trials.

The vaccine is currently authorised in the US for emergency use in people 16 and older.

Pfizer/BioNTech plans to submit the data to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for expanded emergency use authorisation.

COVID-19 IN NIGERIA