Daily COVID Tracker: NCDC logs 213 cases in 12 states — and two deaths

Nigeria on Monday recorded 213 cases of COVID-19. Here are five updates about the pandemic this Tuesday.

Tokyo Olympic Games-linked COVID-19 cases rise to 155

Seven more people related to the Tokyo Olympics have tested positive for coronavirus.

The Olympics Games organising committee said this on Tuesday.

The development brings the total number of people who have tested positive for COVID-19 as compiled by organisers since July 1 to  155.

This excludes those announced by central and local governments.

World Bank partners COVAX on vaccine access for developing countries

The World Bank has partnered COVAX to accelerate COVID vaccine supply for developing countries through a new financing mechanism that builds on Gavi’s newly designed AMC cost-sharing arrangement.

David Malpass, the World Bank president, announced this in a statement on Monday.

The new financing model will allow AMC countries to purchase doses beyond the fully donor-subsidised doses they are already receiving from COVAX.

Nigeria records 213 cases

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has reported 213 new cases of COVID-19 in Nigeria.

According to the agency’s update for July 26, the new cases were recorded in 12 states.

The states that reported the infections are Lagos (157), Rivers (20), Plateau (12), Enugu (6), and Oyo (6).

Others are Gombe (3), Bauchi (2) Imo (2), Kaduna (2), Edo (1), Ekiti (1), and Ogun (1).

The NCDC said two persons died of the disease on Monday, bringing the total number of fatalities to 2,134.

Nine persons were discharged on Monday after recovering from the infection.

Since the index cases in February 2020, 171,324 infections have been confirmed, with 164,798 recoveries across the country.

COVID-19 creates opportunity for problem-solving, says Osinbajo

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo says the COVID-19 pandemic brought damage to countries globally.

Osinbajo said this at the 14th annual conference of the Nigerian Association of Energy Economics, in Abuja, on Monday.

Speaking at the event, Osinbajo who was represented by Ahmad Zakari, his special adviser on infrastructure, said despite the damage, the pandemic has created an opportunity for people to think outside the box — bringing about innovation.

“The energy sector as one of the most critical sectors of all economies was impacted adversely by the pandemic due to lockdowns and restrictions in movement of people and halt of operations of many energy organisations,” he said.

“This brought huge losses for both public and private organisations, we also know that COVID-19 caused global damage in the global economies but it provided a unique opportunity for thinking out of the box for solving most of the problems in the world.”

US asks citizens to suspend travel to  Spain, Portugal over spike in COVID-19 cases

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and State Department have asked citizens to suspend travel to  Spain, Portugal, Cyprus and Kyrgyzstan over the rising COVID-19 cases in those countries.

The CDC issued the “do not travel” advisory on Monday — warning citizens of a “very high” infection rate in these countries.