Daily COVID Tracker: Nigeria records 44 infections, and pandemic ‘a long way from over’

Nigeria on Monday recorded 44 COVID-19 infections in five states. Here are five updates about the pandemic this Tuesday. 

FCTA vaccinates 40,000 residents

The federal capital territory administration (FCTA) says it has vaccinated about 40,000 residents since the rollout of the exercise on March 16.

Nda-Eyo Iwot, acting executive secretary, FCTA primary healthcare board, said this on Monday while monitoring the vaccination of FCT lawmakers.

He asked residents to ignore conspiracy theories and fake news, saying no known adverse effect of the vaccine had been recorded.

NPHCDA partners ICPC to monitor COVID vaccine distribution

The National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) has partnered the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to ensure transparency in the distribution of COVID-19 vaccine doses across Nigeria.

Faisal Shuaib, executive director of NPHCDA, in a statement on Monday, said the collaboration is founded on ICPC’s mandate to discourage corrupt practices in the deployment of the vaccine.

The agencies’ collaboration will also ensure that accountability is established and sustained throughout the four phases of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign.

NCDC confirms 44 new infections in five states

Nigeria on Monday recorded 44 new cases of COVID-19 in four states and the federal capital territory (FCT).

This is as the country’s daily infections continue to decline.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) confirmed the new figure in its update for April 12.

According to the agency, Enugu topped the list with 22 fresh infections.

Other states that recorded new infections include Lagos (15), FCT (4), Osun (2) and Kaduna (1).

But 70 persons were discharged after recovering from the infection.

The recoveries include “40 community recoveries in Enugu State and 4 community recoveries in FCT managed in line with guidelines”.

One person was also reported to have died of the infection on Monday.

This brings the total number of fatalities in the country to 2,061.

Since the start of the pandemic, 163,837 cases have been confirmed and 154,177 cases have been discharged in 36 states and the FCT. 7,599 are currently active cases.

COVID-19 pandemic ‘a long way from over’, says WHO 

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organisation (WHO), says the COVID-19 pandemic is a long way from being over, but it can be brought under control in months with proven public health measures.

Speaking at a news conference on Monday, Tedros said vaccination is not enough to flatten the curve in infection, adding that other measures including wearing masks and maintaining physical distancing must be applied to reverse the trajectory.

“We too want to see societies and economies reopening, and travel and trade resuming,” he said.

“But right now, intensive care units in many countries are overflowing and people are dying – and it’s totally avoidable”.

“The COVID19 pandemic is a long way from over. But we have many reasons for optimism. The decline in cases and deaths during the first two months of the year shows that this virus and its variants can be stopped.”