BY Samuel Akpan
Nigeria on Sunday recorded 365 cases of COVID-19. Here are five updates about the pandemic this Monday.
Over 50 percent of Japan’s population fully vaccinated, says minister
Japan says more than 50 percent of its population has received two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Yasutoshi Nishimura, economic revitalisation minister, disclosed this on Sunday, adding that the vaccination rate will get to the level of some European countries soon.
“If vaccination moves ahead at the current pace, it will surpass 60 percent by the end of this month,” Nishimura said.
US studies show COVID vaccines protect against serious illness
The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data shows that people who are not vaccinated against COVID-19 are four-and-a-half times more likely to contract the virus and 11 times more likely to die from it than fully-vaccinated persons.
Speaking at a media briefing, Rochelle Walensky, director of CDC, said data indicate that “vaccination works and will protect us from the severe complications of COVID-19”.
“Looking at cases over the past two months when the Delta variant was the predominant variant circulating in this country, those who were unvaccinated were about four-and-a-half times more likely to get COVID-19, over 10 times more likely to be hospitalised, and 11 times more likely to die from the disease,” Walensky said.
South Africa to relax COVID restrictions
South Africa is expected to relax COVID-19 restrictions and shorten its nationwide curfew from Monday — following a decline in infections.
President Cyril Ramaphosa said the hours for alcohol sale introduced in June to tackle the third wave may also be eased.
“While the third wave is not yet over, we have seen a sustained decline in infections across the country over the last few weeks,” Ramaphosa said.
Nigeria records 365 infections
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) says 365 people tested positive for coronavirus on Sunday.
The latest positive samples of COVID-19 were recorded in seven states and the federal capital territory (FCT), according to the agency’s update for September 12, 2021.
Lagos, the hardest-hit state by the pandemic, topped the COVID-19 infection chart with 209 new cases, followed by Ondo and FCT with 88 and 31 infections, respectively.
Other states that recorded new positive samples include Rivers (16), Ebonyi (11), Kaduna (6), Ekiti (3) and Plateau (1).
Eight persons were said to have died of COVID-19 complications on Sunday, raising the country’s total fatality toll to 2,598.
According to the agency, 343 new recoveries were reported across the country.
A total of 199,151 COVID-19 cases have now been confirmed — out of which 186,418 persons have been discharged.
No vaccine passport as UK PM set to announce winter COVID-19 plan
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will on Tuesday announce a plan to manage the COVID-19 pandemic in the winter months.
Parts of the plan include scrapping the introduction of vaccine passports and steps to end some emergency powers.
Sajid Javid, health minister, said he does not envisage more COVID lockdowns and vaccine passports will not be introduced in England, adding that the government depends on vaccines and testing to protect the public.
“Now that we’re entering autumn and winter … the prime minister this week will be setting out our plans to manage COVID over the coming few months and in that we will be making it clear that our vaccine programme is working,” Javid said.
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