Daily COVID Tracker: Deaths surge as NCDC logs 21 fatalities — but over 2,000 recoveries

Nigeria on Monday recorded 387 cases of COVID-19. Here are five updates about the pandemic this Tuesday. 

Ehanire: Delta COVID variant most dominant in Nigeria

Osagie Ehanire, minister of health, says the Delta variant of COVID-19 is the dominant strain in the country.

Ehanire stated this at a media briefing on Monday in Abuja.

The minister said Nigerians must prioritise the COVID protective measures to curtail the spread of the virus.

“The dreaded 3rd wave of COVID-19 may appear to be levelling out because there had been no catastrophic increases in infections and fatalities,” he said.

“But, it is not wise to assume that the threat is gone, especially as cases are fluctuating and have to be identified by genomic sequencing.

“Evidence so far, however, is that the Delta strain is already the dominant one in Nigeria. We must keep our protective measures in place and increase testing to determine our situation.”

NPHCDA: Over 1.6 million people fully vaccinated against COVID

The National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) says 1,692,315 people have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in the country.

Faisal Shuaib, executive director of NPHCDA, said this on Monday, at the media briefing of the presidential steering committee (PSC) on COVID-19 in Abuja.

For those who have received the first dose, Shuaib said the figure, as of September 12, stands at 4,052,756.

He said the agency has resumed the administration of the AstraZeneca COVID vaccine as the first dose to eligible persons who have not been vaccinated.

FG removes India from list of flagged countries

The federal government has removed India from the list of countries flagged over the high surge of COVID-19 infections.

In May, the federal government had banned travellers from Brazil, India and Turkey from visiting the country.

Speaking on Monday during the national briefing of the presidential steering committee (PSC) on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha, secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), said the situation in the Asian county has improved.

Nigeria records 387 COVID cases

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has confirmed 387 new cases of COVID-19 in Nigeria.

According to the agency’s update for September 13, the new cases were reported in 15 states and the federal capital territory (FCT).

Lagos, the hardest-hit state by the pandemic, topped the list with 114 new cases, followed by Rivers with 91 fresh infections and FCT with 32.

Other states new cases include Edo (31), Delta (28), Kwara (20), Bayelsa (18), Akwa Ibom (15), Oyo (10), Osun (8), Gombe (5), Plateau (5), Ekiti (4), Ogun (3), Kano (2) and Kaduna (1).

The agency said 21 persons died of the infection on Monday, bringing the total number of fatalities to 2,619.

Meanwhile, 2,009 people were discharged after recovering from the infection.

The NCDC said the update includes 1,700 recoveries reported for Lagos state from September 11, including community discharges. It said the report also includes a backlog of nine deaths reported from Lagos state.

A total of 199,538 COVID-19 cases have now been confirmed — out of which 188,427 persons have been discharged.

US governor threatens fines against counties over vaccine mandates

Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida, has threatened to fine cities and counties that mandate employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

“If a government agency in the state of Florida forces a vaccine as a condition to employment, that violates Florida law,” the governor said.

“And you will face a $5,000 fine for every single violation. That’s millions and millions of dollars potentially in fines.”

COVID-19 IN NIGERIA