Daily COVID Tracker: Nigeria reports 12 infections in four states, zero fatality

Nigeria on Monday recorded 12 new cases of COVID-19. Here are five updates about the pandemic this Tuesday. 

COVID: South Korea to vaccinate children aged 5-11

South Korea says it will administer COVID-19 vaccine on children aged five to 11 to curtail the spread of the Omicron variant.

The country’s ministry of health said the vaccination campaign for children in the age bracket will commence later in the month.

According to the health ministry, Pfizer and BioNTech COVID vaccine will be administered on the children beginning from March 31.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) had said the spread of the highly-infectious Omicron variant recently raised the number of COVID-19 cases in the age group as well as hospitalisation and deaths.

France lifts most of its COVID-19 restrictions

France lifted most of its COVID-19 restrictions on Monday.

The country has abrogated the requirement to wear face masks in most settings and the unvaccinated can now return to restaurants, sports arenas and other venues.

After an assessment of the COVID situation, the government had said earlier this month that the COVID restriction would be lifted.

People will no longer need to show proof of vaccination to use interregional transport or to enter places like restaurants, bars, cinemas, theatres and fairs.

Australia asks citizens to get COVID boosters amid new variant threat 

Australia has advised citizens to get their COVID-19 booster shots.

The authorities have cautioned that the sluggish rollout of COVID-19 vaccine booster doses could result in a new wave of illnesses as the highly infectious BA.2 sub-variant of the Omicron coronavirus strain continues to pose a threat.

During the initial Omicron wave, Australia saw record cases and hospitalisation rates, but these have levelled out in the past six weeks. Most states have relaxed social distancing restrictions, such as removing mask requirements at indoor venues and requiring employees to return to their offices.

Nigeria records 12 infections

Nigeria has recorded 12 new cases of COVID-19.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in its update for March 14, 2022, said the infections were logged in in four states.

Kaduna recorded five infections, Delta and Rivers logged three cases each, while Oyo reported one infection.

The NCDC data showed one person was discharged after recovering from COVID infection.

According to NCDC record, no person died of COVID complications, keeping the fatality figure at 3,142.

So far, a total of 255,001 infections have been confirmed in the country with 249,373 recoveries.

Mexico: We won’t existing COVID vaccine agreements with Russia

Lopez Obrador, president of Mexico, says the country will uphold its existing agreements with Russia for its Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine, and those made with other countries.

Obrador said this at a news conference on Monday.

The president said he expected his country to have enough vaccines moving forward, adding that Mexico would not participate in sanctions against Russia over the war in Ukraine.