Daily COVID Tracker: Deaths surge as NCDC logs 17 fatalities, 597 cases

Nigeria on Tuesday recorded 597 cases of COVID-19. Here are five updates about the pandemic this Wednesday. 

Get vaccinated against COVID or quit, Zimbabwe tells employees

Zimbabwe has asked state employees who do not want to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to resign.

Ziyambi Ziyambi, justice minister, said this during a radio broadcast on Tuesday.

The minister said Zimbabweans will not be coerced to get vaccinated, but government employees have a duty to protect the public.

“We are not forcing you to be vaccinated but if you are a government employee, for the protection of others and the people that you are serving, get vaccinated,” Ziyambi said.

“If you want to enjoy your rights, which are in the constitution, you can resign” adding that “there will come a time when we will not want any teacher who is not vaccinated.”

Venezuela receives first batch of COVID vaccine from COVAX

Venezuela has received its first batch of COVID-19 vaccine doses through the COVAX programme.

The country took delivery of 693,000 doses of the Sinovac Biotech COVID vaccine on Tuesday — the first of a total of 11 million it will receive through COVAX.

The South American country attributed the delay in receiving the vaccine to US sanctions.

CDC: 75 percent of US adults vaccinated

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says 75 percent of adults in the country have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine as of Tuesday morning.

According to the agency, 193,798,688 adults have had at least one shot, while 165,947,460 people or 64.3 percent of the adult population are fully vaccinated.

Nigeria records 597 infections

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has confirmed 597 new cases of coronavirus.

The agency, in an update for September 6, 2021, said the infections were reported in 13 states and federal capital territory (FCT).

Lagos, the epicentre of the pandemic in the country, recorded the highest infections with 204, followed by Rivers with 89 and Edo recorded 65.

Infection figures in other states are as follows: FCT (50), Oyo (47), Enugu (46), Ekiti (24), Cross River (17), Delta (15), Gombe (15), Osun (12), Plateau (6), Benue (5) and Kano (2).

According to the NCDC update, 277 persons were discharged on Tuesday after recovering from the infection.

The agency said 17 persons died of COVID-19-related complications, bringing the total number of fatalities to 2,573.

To date, 196,487 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Nigeria with 185,159 recoveries.

Man jailed 5 years for breaching COVID Protocol in Vietnam

A court in Vietnam has reportedly sentenced a man to five years in prison for breaking COVID-19 quarantine rules.

According to Vietnam News Agency (VNA), Le Van Tri, 28-years-old, was convicted of “spreading dangerous infectious diseases” at a one-day trial at the People’s Court of the southern province of Ca Mau.

COVID-19 IN NIGERIA