#COVID19: Nigeria Records 674 Cases, 8 Deaths, Resumes Vaccinations
Nigeria has begun its second vaccination programme amidst rising COVID-19 cases.
Nigeria, on Thursday, Aug.19, reported eight deaths and 674 new COVID-19 infections, raising total confirmed cases to 185,267, according to government data.
The Nigeria Centre Disease Control (NCDC) said the fresh infections were spread across 16 states and the Federal Capital Territory Abuja.
Lagos, the country’s commercial capital and the epicentre of the pandemic, reported the most infections with 355, followed by Rivers State with 87 infections. FCT had 38 cases while Ogun recorded 33 cases. Akwa Ibom and Oyo reported 32 cases each. Edo had 22 cases, and Ekiti, 20.
Other states with fresh cases are Kwara (17), Delta (12), Bayelsa (8), Gombe (5) Kaduna (4), Osun (4), Enugu (2) Nasarawa (2), and Plateau (1).
The new infections came after the country had, on Wednesday, reported 1,149 COVID-19 cases, the highest daily total since Feb.
More than 167,920 people have, however, recovered from the disease, as 2,244 have so far died of it.
As of Friday morning, at least 15,100 people are hospitalised amidst an ongoing doctors’ strike over pay and better working conditions.
While health experts warn the strike may complicate Nigeria’s response to the third wave of the pandemic, the NCDC has linked the spike in cases to the Delta variant, saying driving down the resurgence requires Nigerians to observe COVID-19 preventive measures and get the vaccine.
In its first phase of vaccination drive, Nigeria administered 3.94 million doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines so far, with 2.5 million persons receiving at least one dose. Less than one per cent of its 200 million population has been fully vaccinated—1.4 million.
On Monday, Aug. 15, the country began its second phase of vaccination, having received four million doses of the Moderna vaccine from the United States.
Boss Mustapha, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF),described the vaccines as the country’s “only hope out of COVID-19.”
Aside from the Moderna jabs, Mustapha said on Monday, Nigeria had also taken delivery of 177,600 doses of the single-shot Johnson and Johnson vaccine expected to be deployed to hard-to-reach places.
The J&J vaccine was obtained through the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT), with help from Afrexim bank.
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