Daily COVID Tracker: No deaths reported in 19 days as Nigeria logs 84 infections

March 10

08:05 2022

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Nigeria on Wednesday recorded 84 cases of COVID-19. Here are five updates about the pandemic.

Medical experts ask governments to review COVID guidelines

Iorhen Akase, head of infectious diseases unit, department of medicine at Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), has called on the federal and state governments to review their COVID-19 response guidelines to suit the “current infection figures”.

“Going forward, we should decide on our approaches based on our local experience,” he told NAN on Wednesday.

“Should people still be doing PCR tests when they come into the country or are we okay with just rapid testing?

“Should we still be testing people who are fully vaccinated or not? Should we be testing people who were previously infected with COVID-19? Should we be testing children?

“Should we be pushing for more booster doses? Elsewhere, they are talking about second and third booster doses. Should that be our position too?

“In which group of people are we seeing more vulnerability within the country? How is the elderly behaving?

“There are lots of questions to be answered and these should be done based on data.”

Two years since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says about 500 million people have been infected with COVID-19 since March 2020 when the virus was declared a pandemic.

The agency said this in a statement marking two years of the pandemic.

“On Friday marks two years since WHO characterised the global spread of COVID-19 as a pandemic,” the statement reads.

“Almost 500 million people have been infected with the coronavirus since March 2020 and new variants are still a threat. This Friday marks two years since the World Health Organization (WHO) characterised the global spread of COVID-19 as a pandemic.”

Tedros Gebreyesus, director-general of WHO, said despite declining cases worldwide, the pandemic still poses a threat to humans.

Nigeria logs 84 infections

Nigeria has logged 84 new COVID-19 infections across the country.

In its update for March 9, 2022, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) said the infections were recorded in five states and the federal capital territory (FCT).

A breakdown of the cases is presented below:

FCT-62
Yobe-15
Bayelsa-3
Abia-2
Kaduna-1
Kano-1

The agency’s data showed that 98 people were discharged after they recovered. Meanwhile, no death was reported on Wednesday, making it the 19th day with no fatalities.

The NCDC said Wednesday’s report includes a backlog of 62 cases for the FCT, recorded on March 8 and 9 — three and 59 cases respectively.

With the new figure, Nigeria has now recorded 254,861 cases, 249,307 recoveries and 3,142 fatalities across the country.

Two-thirds of households with children ‘lost income during pandemic’

The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) and the World Bank says about two-thirds of households with children lost income since the inception of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to a report released by UNICEF and World Bank, the data was collected in 35 countries.

The report noted that reduced earnings have put parents in a position where their children are going without food for a day or more.

SA drug company signs deal to package J&J vaccine

Aspen Pharmacare, a South African pharmaceutical company, has concluded an agreement with Johnson & Johnson to package, sell and distribute the latter’s COVID-19 vaccines in Africa under its own brand.

In a statement announcing the development, Aspen said the deal also allows it to “discuss the expansion of the agreement to include any new versions of the drug substance, such as those developed for new variants or a different formulation for administration as a booster”.

Meanwhile, Johnson and Johnson said the agreement means Aspen can now supply its COVID-19 vaccine under the Aspenovax brand to all 55 African countries and multilateral entities supporting Africa’s vaccination programme.