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Nigeria on Wednesday reported 44 fresh cases of COVID-19. Here are five updates about the pandemic this Thursday. 

Lagos places 14 countries on COVID watchlist

The Lagos government has placed 14 countries on its COVID-19 watchlist to prevent a third wave in the state.

Speaking on Wednesday, Akin Abayomi, Lagos commissioner for health, said the measures will guide the management of inbound passengers of interest (POIs) from other countries.

The commissioner explained that travellers coming from other countries into Lagos have been classified into red, amber, and green categories.

According to him, India, Brazil and Turkey, where new variants are causing an increase in infection rate, are classified as ‘red countries’.

More details on amber and green countries can be found here.

NMA asks FG to boost local vaccine production 

The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has urged the federal government to improve its efforts to boost local vaccine production in order to reduce the dependence on other countries.

In a communique issued at the end of its annual general conference, the association said the country has demonstrated capacity in the past by producing vaccines against yellow fever.

NMA asked the federal government to ensure the success of the recently launched initiative on promoting indigenous efforts.

Nigeria records 44 COVID infections

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) says the country recorded 44 new coronavirus infections across four states on Wednesday.

This represents a slight decrease compared to Tuesday’s report of 47 infections.

Wednesday’s figure brings the total number of confirmed cases to 165,515.

One death was recorded for the first time after six days of zero deaths, increasing the fatality toll to 2,066.

The states that recorded new infections are Lagos (28), Rivers (14), Akwa Ibom (1), and Ekiti (1).

NCDC further said that 16 persons were discharged on Wednesday. This brings the total number of recoveries to 156,374.

COVID-impacted Kogi households to get intervention

The Kogi state government says it has started registering poor and vulnerable citizens impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic to access emergency social interventions support.

Asiwaju Idris, commissioner for finance, budget and economic planning, said the government would sensitise the people about the programme.

Idris said the programme, known as rapid response register (RRR), was designed as a shock response framework by the National Social Safety Net Program (NASSP) in collaboration with the World Bank to cushion the effect of the pandemic.

Combining different vaccines increases side effects

A study conducted by researchers in the UK says people who received two different doses of coronavirus vaccines —AstraZeneca and Pfizer — were more likely to develop mild to moderate symptoms.

The University of Oxford research recruited 830 volunteers aged over 50.

According to the preliminary data released on Wednesday, participants who received a mixed schedule of COVID-19 vaccines had more frequent reactions than those on standard non-mixed schedules.

Some of the mild to moderate symptoms reported among the volunteers include chills, fatigue, feverishness, headache, joint pain, malaise, muscle ache, and pain at the injection site.

The adverse reactions were found to be short-lived and there were no other safety concerns.

COVID-19 IN NIGERIA