Daily COVID Tracker: Nigeria records 55 infections, and WHO approves Moderna vaccine for use

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control  (NAFDAC) has approved Pfizer Biotech COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use in Nigeria.

Mojisola Adeyeye, director-general of the agency, disclosed this during a virtual meeting on Friday in Abuja.

NAFDAC had in February approved two vaccines —Sputnik V from Russia and AstraZeneca manufactured by the Serum Institute of India for use in the country.

In March, the country received 3.9 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from COVAX-led programme.

US restricts travel from India 

The United States says it will restrict travel from India starting from May 4.

Jen Psaki, White House press secretary, made the announcement on Friday, citing the surge in infections in the south Asian country and the emergence of potential dangerous variants.

“The policy will be implemented in light of extraordinarily high COVID-19 caseloads and multiple variants circulating in India,” she said.

WHO approves Moderna COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use

The World Health Organization (WHO) has listed Moderna COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use.

The approval brings to four the number of vaccines that have received backing from the WHO — the organisation had earlier approved the Pfizer/BioNTech and Oxford/AstraZeneca as well as the Johnson and Johnson vaccines.

“The objective is to make medicines, vaccines and diagnostics available as rapidly as possible to address the emergency,” the WHO said in a statement.

Nigeria records 55 infections

The Nigerian Center for Disease Control (NCDC) has reported 55 new cases of COVID-19 across 7 states and the federal capital territory (FCT).

Lagos, the pandemic hotspot in Nigeria, recorded 21 new infections, followed closely by Yobe with 19 cases.

Other states that reported fresh cases are Ogun (6), Akwa Ibom (3), Kaduna (2), Plateau (2), FCT (1), and Rivers (1).

No death was recorded on Friday, leaving the fatality toll at 2,063.

According to the Agency’s data, 60 persons recovered and were discharged on Friday.

The discharges include “23 community recoveries in Yobe state managed in line with guidelines”.

Since the index case in Nigeria on February 28, 2020, 165,110 infections have now been confirmed in the country while 155,101 persons have been discharged.

Tokyo reports 1,050 single-day infections

Tokyo on Saturday reported 1,050 COVID-19 — highest single-daily number since January 28.

Saturday’s figure is slightly higher than the 1,027 cases reported Thursday.

As Tokyo battles to flatten the curve in the spread of the virus, Toshihiro Nikai, senior official of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, had said the Olympics which is billed to take place in three months time, must be cancelled “without hesitation” if the virus situation is too severe.

COVID-19 IN NIGERIA