Daily COVID Tracker: Nigeria records 104 fresh infections, and Sinopharm to consider vaccine booster

Plateau state government has announced plans to commence the COVID-19 economic stimulus programme for farmers. Here are five updates about the pandemic this Monday. 

No COVID vaccine authorised for sale in Nigeria

The federal government says it has not authorised the sale of any COVID-19 vaccine in the country.

According to a memo, Adebimpe Adebiyi, director, department of hospital services, ministry of health, said there are indications that fake COVID-19 vaccines reportedly brought from China are already circulating in Africa.

The ministry said the federal government has taken steps to prevent such illegal products from getting into the country.

It said the customs has been designated at Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja, as the only point of entry for imported COVID-19 vaccines.

Sinopharm needs trial results to decide if COVID-19 vaccine needs booster doses

China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) will need to assess results from overseas phase three clinical trials to decide whether its two-shot COVID-19 vaccine should be followed by a booster shot, according to a company executive.

Amid the emerging variants of COVID-19, vaccine developers are considering booster doses to help increase protection.

Zhang Yuntao, vice-president at China National Biotec Group (CNBG), an affiliate of Sinopharm, said “the preliminary results so far showed that the booster vaccination can effectively increase the neutralizing antibody titer and antibody persistence, and also effectively improve the vaccine’s ability to resist mutations”.

“Is a booster shot needed? When will the booster be given? The answer should be based on the results of future phase III clinical studies.”

Lagos, Enugu top list as NCDC reports 104 new COVID cases

The country’s single-day count of coronavirus infections recorded a slight leap on Sunday as 104 new cases were confirmed in 11 states and the federal capital territory (FCT).

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) confirmed the new cases in its update for March 28.

According to the breakdown, Lagos recorded the highest cases with 48 new positive samples, followed by Enugu with 16, and Kwara with 8.

Other states with new infections include Kaduna (6), Plateau (5), Kano (5), Rivers (4), FCT(4), Ogun (4), Edo (2), Ekiti (1) and Katsina (1).

The NCDC also said 103 persons were discharged across the country on Sunday after recovering from COVID-19.

Seven persons were confirmed to have died of COVID-19-related complications on Sunday, raising the casualty figure to 2,048.

Clarifying the figure, the agency said Sunday’s report includes a backlog of deaths in Lagos state.

Out of a total of 162,593 confirmed cases in the country, 150,308 people have recovered.

Facebook freezes Venezuelan president’s page over COVID misinformation

Facebook at the weekend froze the page of Nicolas Maduro, Venezuelan president, for spreading misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine.

TheCable had reported that the social media giant in February vowed to crack down on misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines.

The company spokesperson said on Saturday the president violated Facebook policies against spreading misinformation about COVID-19 by claiming without evidence that a herbal remedy could cure the virus.

But in a swift response, Venezuela government hit back and accused Facebook of going after “content geared toward combatting the pandemic”.

Plateau to kick-start COVID-19 economic stimulus for farmers

Gideon Dandam, coordinator, Fadama project in Plateau, says the state government will commence the COVID-19 economic stimulus programme for farmers in April.

According to NAN, Dandam said the programme will be implemented under the COVID-19 Action Recovery Economic Stimulus (Nigeria CARES).

He said the programme is still at the preparatory stage, but added that efforts will be made to ensure that it kicked off in April.

“COVID-19 came with myriads of devastating effects on the people, this gesture is aimed at addressing these challenges,” Dandam said.

“The Federal Government understood the challenges, this is part of the steps to revamp the economy and put food back on the table for Nigerians.”

COVID-19 IN NIGERIA