Daily COVID Tracker: Infections decline as NCDC reports 12 cases in two states

Nigeria on Monday reported 12 cases of COVID-19. Here are five updates about the pandemic this Tuesday. 

Novavax COVID vaccine shows 90.4% efficacy

Novavax says its COVID-19 vaccine has 90.4 percent overall efficacy in a Phase 3 trial.

The NVX-CoV2373 vaccine differs from other COVID vaccines and relies on recombinant nanoparticle technology to stimulate an immune response.

The study enrolled 29,960 adults across 113 sites in the US and Mexico.

The vaccine was said to be 91 percent effective among volunteers at high risk of severe infection and 100 percent effective in preventing moderate and severe cases.

It was 70 percent effective against virus variants that Novavax was unable to identify, Gregory Glenn, president of research and development for Novavax, told Reuters.

Novavax said it will apply for emergency use authorisation of the vaccine in the US.

UK delays reopening over COVID variant 

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has delayed plans to lift all COVID-19 restrictions by four weeks over the spread of the Delta variant.

In February, Johnson laid a roadmap for the reopening of the country — with all restrictions to end on June 21.

However, the date has been moved to July 19  to enable the country to speed up its vaccination drive.

“I think it is sensible to wait just a little longer. As things stand, and on the evidence that I can see right now, I’m confident that we will not need more than four weeks and won’t need to go beyond July 19,” Johnson said.

Japan to donate 1m COVID-19 vaccine to Vietnam

Japan says it will send one million COVID-19 vaccine doses to Vietnam.

Toshimitsu Motegi, Japanese foreign minister, disclosed this during a press briefing on Tuesday.

“After considering comprehensively the infection situation (in Vietnam), the shortage of vaccines and relationship with Japan, we have come to that decision,” Motegi said.

Motegi added that the AstraZeneca vaccine produced under licence in Japan is expected to arrive in Vietnam on Wednesday.

Nigeria records 12 COVID cases

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) says 12 people tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday.

This figure is one of the lowest daily figures recorded in 2021.

On Sunday, the country recorded seven cases — the lowest daily figure recorded since April 15, 2020 — when the country registered 11 cases.

According to the agency’s update for June 14, 2021, the latest positive samples were recorded in just two states.

States that reported the infections are Lagos (9) and Kwara (3).

The agency said six patients were discharged on Monday after recovering from the infection.

With the new figure, a total of 163,469 persons have now recovered from the virus in Nigeria.

For the tenth day in a row, no new death was recorded, leaving the fatality toll at 2,117.

Since the index case in February 2020, a total of 167,078 coronavirus infections have been confirmed across the country — out of which 1,492 are active cases

 COVID cases declining — but over 10,000 people dying every day

Tedros Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organisation (WHO), says COVID-19 cases worldwide have decreased over the past seven weeks.

Speaking at a media briefing on Monday, the DG said though cases have declined worldwide, deaths have risen in many countries with over 10,000 persons dying daily.