Daily COVID Tracker: Nigeria records 83 infections, and COVAX delivers 38m vaccines in 6 continents

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says COVAX has delivered more than 38 million doses of vaccines to 100 countries. Here are five updates about the pandemic this Friday.

German mayor suspended for skipping vaccination queue

Bernd Wiegand, German mayor, was suspended on Wednesday by his own city council after it was revealed that he had received vaccine despite not belonging to a priority group.

The overwhelming majority of 34 councillors voted to temporarily suspend Wiegand, mayor of the central city of Halle.

Wiegand, 64, had previously admitted to have been vaccinated in January, when the vaccine was available only to the elderly.

Nigeria records 83 new COVID cases

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on Thursday recorded 83 COVID-19 infections in 14 states.

Lagos reported 22 fresh infections followed by Rivers with 18 and Nasarawa with nine.

Other states that reported new cases are Cross River (8) Ondo (6) Delta (5) Akwa Ibom (4) Bauchi (3) Zamfara (2) Kaduna (2) Ebonyi (1) Sokoto (1) Ekiti (1) Kano (1).

No new death was reported on Thursday for the sixth day running.

The agency however said “38 discharged cases previously recorded in Bauchi State was erroneously reported”.

According to the NCDC, 217 recoveries were recorded on Thursday, bringing the total number of discharged patients in the country to 154,005, while the death toll still stands at 2,058.

Less than 2% of world’s COVID vaccine administered in Africa

WHO says Africa has received less than two percent of the 690 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines administered across the world.

“Less than 2% of the 690 million COVID-19 vaccine doses administered to date globally have been in Africa, where most countries received vaccines only five weeks ago and in small quantities,” the agency said in a statement.

“Forty-five African countries have received vaccines, 43 of them have begun vaccinations and nearly 13 million of the 31.6 million doses delivered so far have been administered. The pace of vaccine rollout is, however, not uniform, with 93% of the doses given in 10 countries.”

New Zealand bans entry of travellers from India 

New Zealand has temporarily suspended entry for all travellers from India, including its own citizens, for about two weeks owing to the spike in infections in India.

The development comes after New Zealand recorded 23 new positive COVID cases at its border on Thursday, out of which 17 were said to be from India.

Speaking at a news conference on Thursday, Jacinda Ardern, prime minister, said the ban will begin on Sunday and will remain in place until April 28.

“We are temporarily suspending entry into New Zealand for travellers from India,” she said.

“I want to emphasise that while arrivals of COVID from India has prompted this measure, we are looking at how we manage high-risk points of departure generally. This is not a country-specific risk assessment.”

COVAX delivers 38m doses of vaccine in six continents

WHO says COVAX has now delivered more than 38 million COVID-19 doses of vaccines across six continents.

According to a statement issued on Thursday, the agency said the vaccines were supplied by AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech and Serum Institute of India (SII).

“The COVAX Facility has now delivered life-saving vaccines to over 100 economies since making its first international delivery to Ghana on 24 February 2021,” the statement said.

“So far, more than 38 million doses of vaccines from manufacturers AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech and Serum Institute of India (SII) have now been delivered.

“Of the over 100 economies reached, 61 are among the 92 lower-income economies receiving vaccines funded through the Gavi COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC).

The statement added that “COVAX aims to supply vaccines to all participating economies that have requested vaccines, in the first half of 2021, despite some delays in planned deliveries for March and April”.

COVID IN NIGERIA