Daily COVID Tracker: NCDC logs 357 cases in 12 states — and six deaths

Nigeria on Tuesday recorded 357 cases of COVID-19. Here are five updates about the pandemic this Wednesday. 

Nigeria receives 699,760 AstraZeneca COVID vaccine doses from UK

Nigeria has taken delivery of the 699,760 doses of the AstraZeneca-Oxford COVID vaccine, donated by the United Kingdom through the COVAX facility.

The vaccine doses were unveiled by Faisal Shuaib, executive director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), on Tuesday in Abuja.

Shuaib said the jab will be administered to those who had received their first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine but had yet to receive the second dose.

“This vaccine will be deployed immediately to the states and would be administered as second doses to those who had earlier received only the first dose of the vaccine during the first phase of the vaccination roll-out,” he said.

Coronavirus reduced cost of oil production, says Sylva

Timipre Sylva, minister of state for petroleum resources, says COVID-19 has helped to reduce the cost of oil production.

Speaking at a news briefing on Tuesday in Abuja, Sylva said the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) have launched programmes on cost reduction which have impacted the oil industry.

He added that “what also helped us in reducing the cost of production is from a very unlikely quarter and that is COVID-19”.

“With COVID-19, oil prices crashed and a lot of contracts were rationalised and we had to renegotiate, so, we were able at that point to get everybody on board to reduce the cost of production,” he said,

“Also, the fact that a lot of expatriates left because of COVID-19 made our locals step in and of course, the locals are cheaper and we have to find local solutions to some of our problems.

NYSC DG asks corps members to go for COVID vaccination

Shuaibu Ibrahim, director-general, National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), has asked corps members to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

Addressing corps members at the end of the 2021 Batch B, Stream I orientation course, Ibrahim said “present yourself for COVID-19 vaccination; there is nothing harmful with the vaccine.”

“For you to be protected, please get yourselves vaccinated, and in all the communities that you will be deployed, sensitise the people about the vaccine; tell them that there is nothing harmful about it,” he said.

“Protect yourselves so that you can protect others. Do not let down your guards; you must adhere strictly to the non-pharmaceutical safety protocols of COVID-19.”

Nigeria records 357 COVID-19 cases

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has reported 357 new cases of COVID-19.

The agency in its update for August 17, 2021, said the new infections were recorded in 11 states and the federal capital territory (FCT).

According to the NCDC, Rivers reported the highest number of infections with 170 cases, followed by Ondo with 38 and Gombe with 34.

Other states that recorded new cases are Ogun (20), Ekiti (20), FCT (18), Anambra (16), Oyo (13), Kwara (10), Imo (6), Bayelsa (6), and Edo (6).

The agency said Tuesday’s update did not include data from Lagos, the epicentre of the pandemic in the country.

According to the NCDC, six persons died from COVID-19 complications on Tuesday bringing the total number of fatalities to 2,229.

Also, 149 patients recovered from the virus on Tuesday.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Nigeria has reported 183,444 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 167,459 recoveries.

US city to pay $100 to anyone who receives first COVID vaccine dose

Houston, a city in Texas, United States, has announced plans to pay anybody who receives the first dose of COVID vaccine before the end of August $100.

Lina Hidalgo, Harris County Judge, said the measure will boost vaccination rates in an effort to fight the surge of infections ignited by the Delta variant.

COVID-19 IN NIGERIA