Daily COVID Tracker: NCDC records 29 infections in 2 states — but zero deaths

Nigeria on Tuesday recorded 29 cases of COVID-19. Here are five updates about the pandemic this Wednesday. 

UAE to offer third dose of COVID vaccine to residents

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has announced plans to offer a third dose of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine to people who were vaccinated with two doses.

The third dose will be offered as a booster shot amid concerns over the efficacy of the vaccine.

“An additional supportive dose of Sinopharm is now available to people who have received the vaccine previously and who have now completed more than six months since the second dose,” the UAE’s National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority said.

Doctors in Tokyo ask government to cancel Tokyo Olympic games over COVID surge

Tokyo Medical Practitioners Association has backed the calls to cancel the 2021 Tokyo Olympic game scheduled to begin in July.

The association said hospitals are overwhelmed as the country battles a spike in COVID-19 infections.

In a letter to Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, the doctors said hospitals in the host city “have their hands full and have almost no spare capacity”.

“We strongly request that the authorities convince the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that holding the Olympics is difficult and obtain its decision to cancel the Games,” they said.

Nigeria may experience setback in COVID vaccine distribution

Nigeria may experience a setback in its COVID-19 vaccination drive as the Serum Institute of India (SII), the main supplier to the COVAX facility, says it may not resume export of vaccine doses until the end of 2021.

Nigeria is currently a beneficiary of the United Nations-led COVAX facility which is facilitating the procurement of vaccines for African countries.

In a statement on Tuesday, SII said it will focus on boosting the vaccination drive for India as the country battles a major spike in its infection rate.

Nigeria records 29 cases of COVID

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) says the country recorded 29 COVID-19 infections on Tuesday.

According to the agency’s update for May 18, the new cases were recorded in two states.

States that recorded new positive samples are Lagos (18) and Rivers (11).

No death was recorded by the agency leaving the casualty toll at 2,067.

Five persons were discharged after recovering from the virus.

A total of 165,807 COVID-19 cases have now been confirmed across 36 states and the FCT, while 156,420 recoveries have been recorded.

Austria To phase out AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine

Austria says it will phase out AstraZeneca from its COVID-19 vaccination programme citing delivery problems and wariness among the population owing to side effects.

Austria is said to be the third European country to drop AstraZeneca — after Norway and Denmark stopped the use of the vaccine.

“We will probably continue to do first shots with AstraZeneca until early June, and then that’s it… AstraZeneca will be discontinued,” Wolfgang Mueckstein, health minister, said.

COVID-19 IN NIGERIA