Daily COVID Tracker: Nigeria reports 141 infections in eight states, 70 recoveries

Nigeria on Monday recorded 141 cases of COVID-19. Here are five updates about the pandemic this Tuesday.

New Zealand to use vaccine certificates

New Zealand says it will start using COVID-19 vaccine certificates as proof of vaccination at large gatherings and other high-risk settings from November.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the certificates will ensure that large events do not become superspreaders.

“We will use them (vaccine certificates) as a tool to lessen risks at what are currently considered as high-risk settings, including large scale events. These are now common overseas and they make good sense,” Ardern said.

Study: Pfizer/BioNTech COVID vaccine efficacy declines after six months

A study shows that the effectiveness of the Pfizer /BioNTech vaccine in preventing COVID-19 infection declined from 88 percent to 47 percent six months after the second dose.

According to the research published on Monday in the Lancet medical journal, the drop is due to waning efficacy, rather than more contagious variants.

The research also showed that the vaccine’s effectiveness in preventing hospitalisation and death remained high at 90 percent for at least six months, including the highly infectious delta.

“To us, that suggests Delta is not an escape variant that is completely evading vaccine protection,” Sara Tartof, research leader, said.

“If it was, we would probably not have seen high protection after vaccination, because vaccination would not be working in that case. It would start low, and stay low.”

New York healthcare provider fires 1,400 unvaccinated staff

Northwell Health, New York largest healthcare provider, has fired 1,400 employees who refused to get COVID-19 vaccination.

The healthcare provider announced its vaccine mandate in August, some weeks before the state requirement.

“Our goal was not to terminate employees,” Joe Kemp, the company’s spokesperson, said, adding that “Our goal was to get people vaccinated”.

Nigeria records 141 cases

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has reported 141 new cases of COVID-19.

The agency in its update for October 4, 2021, said the new infections were recorded in eight states.

The states that reported new infections are Rivers (33), Gombe (32), Lagos (29), Imo (25), Plateau (9), Benue (5), Borno (4), Kano (3) and Delta (1).

According to the NCDC, no deaths were recorded on Monday leaving the total number of fatalities at 2,723.

Also, 70 patients recovered from the virus on Monday.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Nigeria has reported 206,279 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 194,167 recoveries.

EU drug regulator approves vaccine booster for people with weak immunity

European Medicines Agency (EMA) says people with weak immune system should get a third dose of Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.

With the latest development, the EU now joins the United States, Britain and Israel where regulators have authorised the use of Pfizer-BioNTech booster shot.

The EMA said people with weak immune system should be given a third dose at least 28 days after their second one.