Daily COVID Tracker: Infections decline as NCDC logs 20 cases in four states

Nigeria on Sunday reported 20 COVID-19 infections. Here are five updates about the pandemic this Monday. 

Israel approves COVID vaccination for children aged 5 to11

Nachman Ash, director-general of the Israeli health ministry, has approved an expert panel recommendation to start COVID vaccination for children aged five to 11.

In a statement by the health ministry, the date for the vaccination for this age category will be determined in the coming days.

“Most experts believed that the level of benefit in administering the vaccine at these ages outweighed the risk involved,” Ash said.

Austria impose lockdown for residents who haven’t been vaccinated against COVID

Austria has imposed a nationwide lockdown for people not vaccinated COVID-19 effective midnight Monday to tackle the surge in infections and deaths.

With the new measure in place, unvaccinated people 12 years old and above will only leave their homes for basic activities including working, going for a walk, grocery shopping or going to receive the vaccine.

“It’s our job as the government of Austria to protect the people,” Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg said.

Violators of the lockdown may be fined up to $1,660.

Australia to vaccinate children against COVID from January

Australia is planning to administer the COVID-19 vaccine for children under the age of 12 starting from January

Greg Hunt, health minister, said medicine regulators are reviewing the health and safety data for the vaccinations to be administered for children aged five and 11.

“The expectation that they have set is the first part of January, hopefully, early January,” Hunt said.

Nigeria records 20 COVID infections

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) says 20 people tested positive for coronavirus on Sunday.

The latest positive samples were recorded in three states and the federal capital territory (FCT), according to the agency’s update for November 14, 2021.

States that recorded new infections are Kaduna (9), Katsina (4), Lagos (4) and FCT (3).

The NCDC said eight persons died of coronavirus complications in Edo state.

The country’s COVID fatality now stands at 2,968.

But 241 patients were discharged on Sunday after recovering from COVID-19.

The agency said the recoveries reported include a backlog of discharged patients from Edo, Enugu and the FCT.

A total of 213,147 COVID-19 cases have now been confirmed — out of which 205,732 persons have been discharged.

Cambodia ends quarantine for vaccinated travellers 

Cambodia has stopped requiring quarantine for travellers who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 from Monday.

Prime minister Hun Sen said travellers will be required to show their negative test 72 hours before departure and have two vaccine doses while those who are unvaccinated will be quarantined for 14 days.

“After seeing that people have two doses and a negative COVID-19 test, they will be allowed to travel all over the Kingdom of Cambodia,” he said.

“This is a quick way to reopen the country and facilitate travel for our people. I know some of our citizens want to go abroad but are worried about coming back with quarantine required.”