Daily COVID Tracker: Nigeria records 48 infections — lowest single-day count in 2021

Nigeria on Monday recorded 48 fresh COVID-19 infections — lowest single-day count in 2021. Here are five updates about the pandemic this Tuesday. 

Johnson & Johnson to supply 200 million COVID vaccine doses to Europe in April

Johnson & Johnson, drugmaker, says it will supply 200 million doses of vaccine to Europe in April.

In a statement on Monday, the pharmaceutical giant said the tentative delivery schedule will begin in April to June, in line with its agreement with the European Commission.

“Johnson & Johnson will continue to work closely with our partners, regulatory authorities and governments to expedite all steps of the vaccine production process and to activate our manufacturing sites as quickly as health authority approvals allow, in order to ensure the safe and high-quality production of our vaccine,” the statement said.

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine was approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) on March 11, — making it the fourth to be approved by the EU following approval granted to Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca.

Osun begins vaccination of 800 intending pilgrims

The Osun state government on Monday started the vaccination of 800 intending pilgrims to Saudi Arabia against COVID-19.

Tajudeen Lawal, commissioner for home affairs, during the flag-off exercise, said the agency had received enough doses of the vaccine for the intending pilgrims.

Lawal said the exercise was in compliance with the directive of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), and the safety guidelines of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA).

Africa to get 400m doses of COVID vaccine from Johnson & Johnson

The African Vaccine Acquisition Trust Team (AVATT) has signed an agreement with Johnson & Johnson for the supply of 400 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine.

The agreement entails that 55 member states of the African Union (AU) will take delivery of up to 200 million doses of the vaccine in the third quarter of 2021.

An additional 180 million doses will be made available in 2022, making it a combined total of up to 400 million doses of the vaccine.

On March 12, WHO listed the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use in all countries.

Nigeria records 48 fresh infections — lowest in 2021

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) says 48 fresh infections were recorded across eight states in the country on Monday.

The new cases were confirmed in the NCDC update for March 29.

States with new infections are Lagos (13), Kaduna (7), Nasarawa (7), Kano (6), Kwara (5), Ondo (4), Akwa Ibom (3), and Osun (3).

Monday’s figure, which represents 53 percent decline from the 104 cases recorded on Sunday, is the lowest reported in the country in 2021.

One new death was recorded, bringing the total number of fatalities to 2,049.

Also, 158 persons were discharged on Monday after recovering from the infection. This includes 28 community recoveries in Ekiti state “managed in line with guidelines”.

With the new figure, the total number of COVID-19 recoveries in Nigeria stands at 150,466.

Out of 162641 cases that have been confirmed in 36 states and the FCT, 10,126 are active cases.

WHO to publish report on COVID-19 origin on Tuesday

The World Health Organisation (WHO) is expected to publish the full report of independent experts investigating the origins of the coronavirus.

According to Reuters, a summary of the report seen on Monday says the virus was probably transmitted from bats to humans through another animal, and that a lab leak was “extremely unlikely” as a cause.

On January 14, a team of 13 scientists arrived in Wuhan, China to trace the origin of the pandemic , after an earlier disagreement between WHO and the Chinese authorities.

COVID-19 IN NIGERIA