Daily COVID Tracker: Nigeria reports 72 infections in 10 states — but over 200 recoveries

Nigeria on Friday recorded 72 cases of COVID-19. Here are five updates about the pandemic this Saturday. 

Morocco begins construction of COVID vaccine plant

Morocco has started building a COVID vaccine manufacturing plant in collaboration with Recipharm, a Swedish firm.

Sensyo Pharmatech, the manufacturing plant, will manufacture vaccines against COVID-19 and other diseases, with production estimated to reach 116 million units by 2024.

The factory will require a capital investment of 400/500 million euros ($445 million-$557 million).

Brazil approves COVID self-tests for sale in drugstores

Anvisa, Brazil’s health regulator, has authorised the sale of COVID-19 self-tests in drugstores across the country.

The health regulator said the decision is targeted at increasing testing to help reduce the infection rate in Brazil.

Before now, the South American country did not permit COVID self-test.

Brazil is among the countries with the highest COVID infections and deaths in the world.

Nigeria records 72 infections

Nigeria has recorded a drop in daily COVID cases in the past few days.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) says 72 new cases were logged on Friday in nine states and the federal capital territory (FCT).

A breakdown of the fresh cases is shown below:

Lagos-22
FCT-13
Rivers-8
Oyo-7
Yobe-7
Osun-6
Delta-3
Kaduna-3
Nasarawa-2
Kano-1

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According to the NCDC, 228 persons were discharged and no death was reported for Friday.

The agency said Friday’s report includes three cases and eight recoveries in Kaduna on January 27.

It added that 189 recoveries in the FCT are community recoveries.

Nigeria has recorded 252,912 infections , 228,632 recoveries and 3,134 fatalities across the country so far.

European Commission approves Pfizer COVID pill 

The European Commission has granted final approval for Paxlovid, Pfizer’s antiviral pill, for the treatment of COVID-19.

Stella Kyriakides, EU commissioner, disclosed this in a tweet on Friday.

Kyriakides described the approval as a “key step in bringing the most promising therapeutics to citizens”.

Important #COVID19 therapeutics news today ➡️@EU_Commission has authorised the use of Paxlovid in 🇪🇺

A key step in bringing the most promising therapeutics 💊💊to citizens and a strong, second line of defence against the pandemic after vaccination. pic.twitter.com/xBjzNpGANf

— Stella Kyriakides (@SKyriakidesEU) January 28, 2022

Paxlovid, which combines nirmatrelvir and ritonavir in a tablet, is recommended for adults with moderate risk of complications.

COVID-19 restrictions on US military personnel in Japan to end on Monday

Japan foreign ministry says the COVID restrictions on US forces in Japan (USFJ) will be lifted on January 31.

The restrictive measures which limit the movement of US military personnel outside military facilities and a curfew from 10 pm to 6 am will end on Monday. The measure was put in place to prevent the spread of the infection.