Daily COVID Tracker: Infections decline as NCDC logs 75 cases, one death

Nigeria on Wednesday recorded 75 cases of COVID-19. Here are five updates about the pandemic this Thursday. 

Moderna starts trial for booster shot targeting Omicron variant

Moderna says it has commenced a study testing the booster dose of its COVID-19 vaccine designed to target the Omicron COVID-19 variant.

Moderna said the first participant in the phase two trial received a dose of the Omicron-specific booster shot. The drugmaker expects to enroll about 600 adult participants age 18 and over.

Stephane Bancel, CEO of Moderna, said the booster is targeted at diminishing the threat posed by the Omicron variant.

PAHO: COVID cases at highest level in Americas

The Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) says the COVID-19 infections in the Americas have reached the highest level since the pandemic began.

PAHO said more than eight million new COVID-19 cases were reported in the Americas last week — a 32 percent rise over the previous week.

It also said almost 18,000 deaths were documented, a 37 percent rise from the previous year.

Carissa Etienne, PAHO director, said: “As COVID cases are spreading more actively and more quickly than ever before, it’s clear that Omicron has become the predominant … strain in our region at the moment”.

Abayomi: Passports of 200 travellers deactivated over violation of COVID protocol

The Lagos government says the presidential steering committee (PSC) has deactivated the passports of about 200 travellers who presented “fake PCR tests and vaccination cards”.

Speaking in Lagos on Wednesday, Akin Abayomi, commissioner for health, said the defaulters would be subjected to fines or community service.

He said the names of the defaulters who failed to present themselves before the state’s mobile courts were submitted to the PSC and that their passports have been deactivated for one year.

“We have submitted the first 200 names of individuals who have failed to present themselves at the mobile courts to the Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) and their passports have been deactivated for a period of one year,” Abayomi said.

Nigeria records 75 infections 

The agency in its update for January 26, said the infections were recorded in eight states and the federal capital territory (FCT).

The following is a list of the new cases:

Lagos-33
Gombe-13
FCT-11
Osun-8
Edo-3
Rivers-3
Plateau-2
Kaduna-1
Kano-1

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The agency said 646 people recovered from the infections, while one person died of COVID complications.

Nigeria now has 252,753 confirmed infections, 228,137 recoveries and 3,134 fatalities.

White House: US has delivered 400m COVID vaccine doses to 112 countries

The United States says it has delivered 400 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to 112 nations as part of its pledge to provide 1.2 billion doses to low-income countries.

Jeff Zients, White House COVID-19 coordinator, disclosed this when briefing journalists on Wednesday.

“Today, we will hit a major milestone in our global effort: 400 million vaccine doses shipped to 112 countries … for free, no strings attached,” Zients said.