Buhari converts PTF to presidential steering committee
India has donated 100,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine to Nigeria to support the country’s vaccination drive. Here are five updates about the pandemic this Wednesday.
US to send vaccines to other countries
President Joe Biden says he hopes the US will have enough vaccines to send to other countries “pretty soon”.
Speaking during a tour of a vaccination site in Alexandria, Biden said the infection must be tackled around the world.
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“Hopefully we’re going to get good enough pretty soon where we have enough that we can give the rest of the world,” he said.
“Because this is something that’s not just, we could solve it here in America if we don’t solve it around the world. You can’t build a wall or a fence high enough to keep out a virus.”
The presidential task force (PTF) on COVID-19 has been converted to the presidential steering committee (PSC).
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Speaking at a media briefing on Tuesday, Boss Mustapha, secretary to the government of the federation, said President Muhammadu Buhari approved the conversion.
Mustapha said the PSC will focus on ensuring effectiveness in the rollout of vaccine, and promote policies that will result in the development of the country’s health sector.
He added that the mandate of the PSC ends on December 31.
US approves new COVID-19 self-collected antibody test system
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The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says it issued emergency use authorisation for the Symbiotica COVID-19 self-collected antibody test system.
The test system lets people know if they have been infected with COVID-19 in the past.
According to a statement issued on Tuesday by FDA, the test is the first to use home collected dried blood spot samples, which are then sent to a Symbiotica, Inc. laboratory to be analysed.
“Antibody tests, also known as serology tests, detect antibodies present in the blood when the body is responding to a specific infection, as with SARS-CoV-2,” the FDA said.
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“COVID-19 antibody tests can help identify people who may have had a prior infection or who may have recovered from COVID-19”.
The FDA however added that the test cannot detect the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus to diagnose COVID-19.
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Nigeria records 1,585 recoveries
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) says 58 new cases were recorded in 10 states and the federal capital territory (FCT).
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No new death was reported on Tuesday.
The number of confirmed COVID cases in the country is now 163,388.
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Also, 1,585 patients were said to have recovered from the infection; this number includes 1,007 community recoveries in the FCT, 496 in Niger state, and 52 in Bauchi state.
Lagos remains the epicenter of the infection in Nigeria with 32 cases, followed by Kaduna with five cases; Enugu four, and Kano four.
Three cases were confirmed in the FCT, and also three in Ed0; three in Osun; one in Abia; one in Bauchi; one in Gombe, and one in Rivers.
As of Wednesday, Nigeria has tested 1,803,177 samples — with 7,700 as active cases.
India donates 100,000 doses of COVID vaccine to Nigeria
The federal government, on Tuesday, received 100,000 doses of Covishield vaccine donated by India.
Boss Mustapha, secretary to the government of the federation, received the doses at a media briefing of the presidential task force (PTF) on COVID-19, held in Abuja on Tuesday.
Velagaleti Surendra, acting Indian high commissioner to Nigeria, who presented the vaccine said the gesture is symbolic of the relations between both countries.
COVID-19 IN NIGERIA
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