Edo: COVID cases declining — vaccination efforts yielding results

The Edo government says the state has continued to record a decline in the number of confirmed COVID cases, with no new infection in the last 72 hours.

Osagie Ebomwonyi, head of the state COVID-19 case management team, disclosed this during the daily meeting of the COVID-19 taskforce, chaired by Godwin Obaseki, governor of Edo.

According to Ebomwonyi, the state recorded one death at the Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital (ISTH).

He called on residents to be fully vaccinated in order to get protection against the virus.

“Our effort at vaccinating the majority of Edo citizens with the COVID-19 vaccines is already yielding positive gains as infections from the virus have continued to reduce,” he said.

“In the last 72 hours, we recorded no COVID-19 infection from the 420 samples collected within the 72-hour timeframe, with nine discharges and a test positivity rate of zero percent. We also confirmed another COVID-19-related death, involving a 65-year-old female reported from ISTH.”

He said the state has intensified vaccination as part of efforts to contain the pandemic, protect citizens and achieve herd immunity against the virus, adding that the vaccination team is also visiting markets, where mobilisation and sensitisation is being done.

“To sustain the gains recorded in the fight against this common enemy of mankind, it is necessary for all citizens to get vaccinated and ensure strict compliance with non-pharmaceutical interventions against the spread of the disease. This will ensure that Edo people are safe and protected from the deadly pandemic,” he added.

According to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), since the country’s index case in February 2020, Edo has recorded 6,562 COVID cases, including 6,159 recoveries and 224 deaths.