Daily COVID Tracker: Nigeria records 28 infections — but zero deaths

May 3, 2021 7:35 am

Nigeria on Sunday recorded 28 COVID-19 infections but no deaths. Here are five updates about the pandemic this Monday.

FG bans passengers from Brazil, India, Turkey

The federal government says foreigners who recently visited Brazil, India and Turkey will be denied entry into Nigeria from Tuesday.

In a travel advisory issued on Saturday, Boss Mustapha, chairman of the presidential steering committee on COVID-19, said the decision is as a result of the global surge in COVID-19 cases.

Mustapha said Nigerians who visited those countries will undergo one-week mandatory quarantine at arrival, while the passenger will bear the cost.

He added that the federal government has reduced the validity period of pre-boarding COVID-19 PCR test for all Nigeria-bound passengers from 96 to 72 hours.

Australia bans travellers from India

Australia has imposed a travel ban on residents and citizens who have been in India and have not returned before Monday.

Greg Hunt, Australian health minister, said anyone who defies the new rules will be fined up to 66,600 Australian dollars ($51,800) or faces five years in prison or both.

The temporary “emergency determination”, issued on Friday is expected to stop travellers from bringing the virus into Australia.

“The government does not make these decisions lightly,” Hunt said.

“However, it is critical the integrity of the Australian public health and quarantine systems is protected and the number of COVID-19 cases in quarantine facilities is reduced to a manageable level.”

UK may scrap quarantine for COVID contacts

People who have been exposed to COVID-19 may not need to self-isolate if they take a daily COVID-19 test instead.

According to a statement issued by Public Health England (PHE), about 40,000 people will be part of a new government-backed study designed to gather evidence on safe alternatives to self-isolation.

In the pilot study, people will have to test themselves every morning for seven days and will be exempted from the legal requirement to quarantine at home every day they test negative, as long as they do not show any symptoms of COVID.

Isabel Oliver, National Infection Service Director at PHE said: “Contacts of cases are at higher risk of infection so testing them is a very effective way of preventing further spread.”

Third shot needed to boost immunity

Ozlem Tureci, co-founder and chief medical officer of BioNTech, says people may need to get vaccinated with a third shot of its Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine as immunity against the virus wanes.

Tureci noted that people will need to get vaccinated against the coronavirus annually, like for the seasonal flu, to boost immunity.

The development comes about a month after, Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer, said people will likely need a third booster dose of COVID-19 vaccines within 12 months of getting fully vaccinated.

Nigeria records 28 COVID infections

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) says the country recorded 28 fresh COVID infections on Sunday.

The agency made the announcement in its “supplementary update for 2nd May 2021″.

The cases were recorded in seven states and the federal capital territory (FCT).

It added that Sunday’s report “includes ‘14’ new confirmed cases reported in Lagos state, not included in yesterday’s report”

States that recorded new positive samples are Lagos (14), Osun (3), Ogun (3), Kaduna (3), Akwa Ibom (2), Abia (1), FCT (1) and Kwara (1).

The NCDC reported zero death from COVID-19 complications on Sunday, leaving the death toll at 2,063.

Also, 252 persons were discharged on Sunday after recovering from the infection — including 248 community recoveries in Kwara state managed in line with guidelines.

Out of a total of 165,181 COVID-19 cases now confirmed across 36 states and the FCT, 155,361 patients have recovered and 7,743 are currently active.