Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has reported 357 new cases of COVID-19 in 11 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The agency in its update for August 17, 2021, said Rivers reported the highest number of infections with 170 cases, followed by Ondo with 38 and Gombe with 34.
Other states that recorded new cases are Ogun (20), Ekiti (20), FCT (18), Anambra (16), Oyo (13), Kwara (10), Imo (6), Bayelsa (6), and Edo (6).
The agency said Tuesday’s update did not include data from Lagos, the epicentre of the pandemic in the country.
According to the NCDC, six persons died from COVID-19 complications on Tuesday bringing the total number of fatalities to 2,229.
Also, 149 patients recovered from the virus on Tuesday. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Nigeria has reported 183,444 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 167,459 recoveries.
Meanwhile, Nigeria has taken delivery of 699,760 doses of AstraZeneca-Oxford COVID vaccine, donated by United Kingdom through COVAX facility.
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The vaccine doses were unveiled by Faisal Shuaib, executive director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), on Tuesday in Abuja.
Shuaib said the jab will be administered to those who had received their first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine but had yet to receive the second dose.
He expressed;
This vaccine will be deployed immediately to the states and would be administered as second doses to those who had earlier received only the first dose of the vaccine during the first phase of the vaccination roll-out.
In the same vein, Shuaibu Ibrahim, director-general, National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), has asked corps members to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
Addressing corps members at the end of the 2021 Batch B, Stream I orientation course, Ibrahim said “present yourself for COVID-19 vaccination; there is nothing harmful with the vaccine.”
He noted;
For you to be protected, please get yourselves vaccinated, and in all the communities that you will be deployed, sensitise the people about the vaccine; tell them that there is nothing harmful about it.
Protect yourselves so that you can protect others. Do not let down your guards; you must adhere strictly to the non-pharmaceutical safety protocols of COVID-19.
