Daily COVID Tracker: Nigeria records 37 infections, and EU fails to renew AstraZeneca contract

Nigeria on Sunday recorded 37 cases of COVID-19. Here are five updates about the pandemic this Monday.

Laos records first COVID-19 death

Laos, a country in south-east Asia, on Sunday recorded its first death from COVID-19.

According to the state-run Vientiane Times website, the victim was a 53-year-old Vietnamese woman who had underlying medical problems, including diabetes, which “caused complications and worsened her condition in just a few days”.

The country of seven million people reported 69 COVID-19 cases on Sunday, bringing the total infections to 1,069.

Ekiti takes delivery of additional 40,000 vaccine doses

Ekiti state says it has taken delivery of another batch of 40,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines from the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA).

In a statement issued on Sunday, Oyebanji Filani, commissioner for health and human services, said the delivery of the second consignment would enable the state to continue its vaccination campaign.

Filani added that the 52,960 doses of vaccines earlier delivered to the state were duly utilised.

Buhari plans modest Sallah celebration

President Muhammadu Buhari says he will not receive visitors during the Eid-el-Fitr celebration.

According to a statement issued on Sunday, Garba Shehu, presidential spokesman, said Buhari has directed celebrations to be limited to due to COVID-19.

He said the president, first family, his personal aides, members of cabinet, and service chiefs who choose to remain in Abuja will congregate in full compliance with COVID-19 protocol at the forecourt of the presidential villa to observe the Eid prayers.

Nigeria records 37 COVID infections

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) says the country recorded 37 fresh coronavirus infections on Sunday.

The latest positive cases of COVID-19 were recorded in six states and the federal capital territory (FCT), according to the agency’s update for May 9.

The NCDC said Sunday’s report includes a corrected computational error that occurred during the week.

States that recorded new positive samples are Yobe (13), Lagos (12), Akwa Ibom (6), FCT (3), Edo (1), Kaduna (1), and Ogun (1).

For the fourth consecutive day, the agency reported zero deaths from COVID-19 complications.

This keeps the total number of fatalities in the country at 2,065.

Also, 47 persons were discharged on Sunday after recovering from coronavirus.

A total of 165,419 coronavirus infections have now been confirmed across the country, out of which 156,297 patients have recovered.

EU contract with AstraZeneca on COVID-19 jabs ends June

The European Union (EU) has not extended a contract for COVID-19 vaccines with British-Swedish manufacturer AstraZeneca, according to Thierry Breton, the internal market commissioner.

“We have not extended the order beyond the month of June. We’ll see what happen,” Breton said.

The development comes about two days after the EU signed a new contract with Pfizer-Biotech to receive 1.8 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines for 2021-2023, to cover booster shots, donations, and reselling of doses.

Although Breton commended the quality of AstraZeneca vaccines, there have been reported cases of side-effect of the vaccines.

Several countries suspended its use but some later resumed vaccination with the jab after World Health Organisation (WHO) and European Medicine Agency (EMA) said its benefits outweigh the risk.

COVID-19 IN NIGERIA