Daily COVID Tracker: Nigeria records lowest infection tally in 2021 and Jordan sacks health minister

Jordan fired its health minister after seven people died following an oxygen outage in a hospital treating COVID-19 patients. Here are five updates about the pandemic this Monday. 

France to evacuate COVID-19 patients from Paris

France on Sunday said it plans to evacuate about one hundred COVID-19 patients from Intensive Care Units (ICU) in Paris this week.

Hospitals in Paris are said to be running up to their full capacity, leading to a massive shortage of beds, especially in the ICU.

The government is hoping to avoid another lockdown through the transfer, while officials prepare to speed up the vaccination programme.

“By the end of this week, probably around 100 patients will have been evacuated from the Ile-de-France region,” Gabriel Attal government spokesperson, said.

He added: “We are doing everything we can to not have to take more difficult, more restrictive measures.”

The government had already imposed a 6pm curfew across France and restaurants, cafes, cinemas, theatres and large shopping centres have been shut.

Nigeria records 120 fresh COVID-19 infections

The country recorded a 41 percent fall in its single-day count of positive COVID-19 samples on Sunday, with 120 new cases reported in 13 states and the federal capital territory (FCT).

The new cases confirmed on Sunday is the lowest figure recorded in 2021. The last time the number was below 200 was on  March 7 when 195 cases were reported.

A breakdown showed that Lagos — the epicentre of the pandemic in Nigeria — topped the list with 32 new positive samples, followed by Rivers and Kaduna with 25 and 20 cases, respectively.

Also, 685 people were discharged on Sunday, raising the total number of recoveries to 145,399 while no new death was recorded.

According to the NCDC, 82 of the discharged patients are “community recoveries in Lagos state managed in line with guidelines”.

Out of 160,657 coronavirus infections now confirmed since the index case on February 27, 2020, a total of 2,013 deaths have been recorded, with 13,245 active cases.

Jordan sacks health minister after seven die as a result of oxygen outage

Nathir Obeidat, Jordan health minister, was sacked on Saturday after seven people died following an oxygen outage in a hospital treating COVID-19 patients.

The patients were said to have died at the government hospital in the town of al-Salt, some 20 kilometres (13 miles) north of the capital, Amman.

Prime minister Bisher al Khaswaneh said his government takes full responsibility for the incident.

“This is a gross mistake that cannot be justified or accepted. I feel ashamed of it and won’t justify it,” Khaswaneh said, adding that investigations have commenced while he awaits results.

TheCable had reported how Jordan sacked two ministers — Samir Mobeideen, interior minister, and Bassam Talhouni, justice minister, on February 28 after they breached the COVID-19 protocol.

Ireland suspends use of AstraZeneca vaccine

Ireland has temporarily suspended the rollout of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.

The suspension was announced on Sunday following reports of blood clots in adults who received the shot in Norway.

Stephen Donnelly, Irish health minister, said in a tweet that the decision was “based on new information from Norway that emerged late last night”, adding that this was a “precautionary step”.

The decision to temporarily suspend use of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine was based on new information from Norway that emerged late last night. This is a precautionary step. The National Immunisation Advisory Comm meets again this morning and we’ll provide an update after that

— Stephen Donnelly (@DonnellyStephen) March 14, 2021

Despite several countries suspending the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine owing to reported cases of patients developing blood clots — the World Health Organisation (WHO) has backed its use, saying no causal link has been established between the use of the vaccine and clotting.

Fauci ask Trump to encourage supporters to get vaccines

Anthony Fauci, director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), has asked former US President Donald Trump to encourage his supporters to get vaccinated against COVID-19, as recent polls show high levels of hesitancy among Republicans.

Fauci who is also the chief medical advisor to President Joe Biden, said “it would make all the difference in the world” Trump used his “incredible influence” among Republicans to push them to accept COVID-19 vaccines.

“If he came out and said: ‘Go and get vaccinated. It’s really important for your health, the health of your family and the health of the country,’ it seems absolutely inevitable that the vast majority of people who are his close followers would listen to him,” Fauci said on Sunday in an interview with Fox News.

COVID-19 IN NIGERIA