Daily COVID Tracker: NCDC logs 299 infections in 16 states, 198 recoveries

Nigeria on Wednesday recorded 299 cases of COVID-19. Here are five updates about the pandemic this Thursday. 

Trinidad: Nicki Minaj’s COVID vaccine ‘swollen testicles’ claim is false

Terrence Deyalsingh, minister of health in Trinidad and Tobago, has described as “false” the claim by Nicki Minaj, a popular rapper, that a person in the country developed swollen testicles after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine.

The Trinidadian-born rapper set social abuzz on Monday when she said that her cousin in the country refused to get a COVID vaccine because his friend became impotent after being vaccinated.

“His testicles became swollen. His friend was weeks away from getting married, now the girl called off the wedding,” Minaj, who has more than 22 million followers, said on Twitter.

The comments were however trailed by international condemnation.

On Wednesday, Deyalsingh said the ministry checked the claim and discovered it to be false.

“One of the reasons why we could not respond yesterday in real-time to Miss Minaj is that we had to check and make sure that what she was claiming was either true or false. Unfortunately, we wasted so much time yesterday running down this false claim,” the minister said.

Moderna says COVID booster shot needed

Moderna says its COVID vaccine trial shows that the protection offered by the vaccine wanes over time.

Stephen Hoge, president of Moderna, disclosed this in a media conference on Wednesday, adding that there is a need for a booster shot to boost immunity.

“This is only one estimate, but we do believe this means as you look toward the fall and winter, at minimum we expect the estimated impact of waning immunity would be 600,000 additional cases of COVID-19,” Hoge said.

“We believe this will reduce COVID-19 cases. “We also believe that a third dose of mRNA-1273 has a chance of significantly extending immunity throughout much of next year as we attempt to end the pandemic.”

Edo begins enforcement of ‘no vaccination, no entry’ rule in government offices

The Edo state government on Wednesday enforced the ‘no vaccination card, no access’ rule.

On Tuesday, the state government had said it will start restricting entry into government offices for unvaccinated civil servants.

According to the government, the move is the first phase of its enforcement of restriction on large public gatherings for persons without evidence of COVID-19 vaccination.

Workers without vaccination cards were not allowed to enter the state secretariat and government house on Wednesday, as police constabularies were drafted to enforce the policy.

Nigeria records 299 COVID cases

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) confirmed 299 fresh COVID-19 infections across 15 states and the federal capital territory (FCT) on Wednesday.

The latest figure represents a decline of 42.39 percent from Tuesday figure (519 cases).

The agency said 198 persons were discharged while three deaths were recorded on Wednesday.

Lagos, the hardest-hit state, recorded 94 positive samples, followed by FCT and Oyo with 30 and 27 cases respectively.

Other states that recorded new infections are Bayelsa (23), Rivers (20), Edo (17), Taraba (17), Kwara (15), Benue (14), Delta (11), Osun (10), Ekiti (9), Gombe (4), Plateau (4), Kano (2], and Ogun (2).

Nigeria has a total of 200,356 confirmed COVID-19 cases; 188,917 recoveries; 2,640 deaths and 8,799 active cases.

‘This is COVID period’ — FG appeals to NMA, JOHESU to reconsider strike

The federal government has appealed to members of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) and the Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU) to reconsider their decision to go on strike.

NMA and JOHESU had issued ultimatums to the federal government over plans to embark on strike — days after the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) began their strike.

In a statement by Charles Akpan, deputy director of press and public relations, ministry of labour, Ngige asked NMA and JOHESU to consider the current health challenges in the country, especially the coronavirus pandemic.

The minister also said the federal government is working on addressing the issues before the end of September.

COVID-19 IN NIGERIA