Daily COVID Tracker: Infections decline as NCDC logs 78 cases, 142 recoveries

Nigeria on Sunday recorded 78 cases of COVID-19. Here are five updates about the pandemic this Monday.

Foundation to alleviate hardship caused by COVID in Abuja communities

Helpline Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation, says it will launch a programme to alleviate the hardship caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in rural communities in Abuja.

Jumai Ahmadu, president of the foundation, disclosed this at a news conference on Sunday in Abuja.

Ahmadu also said the foundation will on October 12 organise a symposium on the topic: “Capacity Development: A Basic tool for Economic Recovery in Nigeria’s Post-COVID-19 Era”.

According to her, the symposium will dissect issues confronting the Nigerian economy as they relate to the pandemic.

Malaysia relaxes COVID travel restrictions

Malaysia says it will relax COVID travel restrictions in the country as 90 percent of its adult population is now fully vaccinated against the virus.

Speaking on Sunday, Prime Minister Ismail Yaakob said inter-state travel will be allowed from Monday — only to those who have received two doses of the COVID vaccine.

According to Kyodo News, Yaakob also said fully vaccinated Malaysians can now travel abroad without the need to get permission from immigration, but must be quarantined upon return.

“Behind all the loosening up that was announced is the fact that we are now forced to live with the COVID-19 virus,” Yaakob said.

Three arrested for ‘dumping COVID vaccines’ in Egypt

Egyptian authorities have ordered the arrest of three people after thousands of unused COVID-19 vaccine doses were found dumped along a water channel, according to Reuters.

The vaccine doses were reportedly allocated to the health directorate in Minya, a city about 220 km south of Cairo, where 18,400 vaccine packages worth $319,000 were said to be missing.

The dumped vaccines were said to have been scattered along the water channel’s banks in Bani Mazar province, north of Minya.

Nigeria records 78 infections

Nigeria’s daily case count decreased slightly on Sunday, with 78 new coronavirus infections recorded in 10 states and the federal capital territory (FCT).

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) confirmed the new positive samples in its update for October 10.

According to the breakdown by the NCDC, Lagos recorded the most infections with 22 new cases, followed by Kaduna and the FCT with 12 and 10 infections, respectively.

Other states that reported fresh infections include Benue (9), Imo (8), Akwa Ibom (4), Delta (4), Kano (4), Jigawa (3), Plateau (1) and Rivers (1).

The agency said 142 persons were discharged on Sunday after recovering from the infection.

According to the agency’s update, two persons died of COVID-19-related complications on Sunday, raising the total number of fatalities to 2,747.

Out of the 207,694 COVID-19 cases so far confirmed in Nigeria, 195,274 patients have recovered.

Russian suspends test-firing rocket to save oxygen for COVID patients

Russia has suspended test-firing rocket engines at a design bureau in Voronezh city to conserve oxygen supplies for COVID-19 patients.

“In view of growing demand for medical oxygen to treat the sick, today we decided to suspend test firing rocket engines at Voronezh’s Chemical Automatics Design Bureau ranges until the end of the month,” Dmitry Rogozin, head of Russia’s space agency, wrote on Twitter.