Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has recorded 636 new cases of COVID-19 across the country.
According to the agency’s update for August 13, the infections were recorded in 16 states and the federal capital territory (FCT).
The new infections indicated a 15.5 percent decrease from the cases reported on Thursday.
Lagos state recorded the highest number of infections with 291 cases followed by Rivers with 117 and Taraba with 58.
The agency, however, said the cases recorded for Taraba are a backlog from July to August, 2021.
Other states that reported cases on Friday include Akwa Ibom (54), Kwara (28), Ekiti (14), Ogun (14), FCT (13), Oyo (11), Edo (9), Osun (6), Bayelsa (5), Delta (4), Gombe (4), Abia (3), Plateau (3), and Sokoto (1).
Also, NCDC’s data showed that 149 patients recovered from the infection on Friday, while 11 persons died of COVID complications.
So far, Nigeria has confirmed 181,297 cases, 166,709 recoveries and 2,211 deaths across the country and the FCT.
In other news, Federal government has received 177,600 doses of Johnson and Johnson (J&J) COVID-19 vaccines from African Union (AU).
This comes barely one week after Nigeria received about 4 million doses of Moderna vaccines, which were donated by the government of United States of America.
Read Also: Nigeria Receives 4.8m Doses Of Vaccine From US
The vaccines, according to the executive director the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Faisal Shuaib, were delivered to the country through African Vaccine Acquisition Task (AVAT), which he said Nigeria has since subscribed to.
Shuaib, who disclosed this on Thursday during an inspection of the vaccines at the country’s National Strategic Cold Store near the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, said Nigeria is one of the first countries to benefit from the partnership.
He said;
Nigeria took delivery of 177,600 doses of Johnson & Johnson vaccines, being part of the 29,850,000 doses that the Federal Government of Nigeria procured through the AVAT of the AU Commission through the facility provided by African Export-Import Bank (AFREXIMBANK). The balance of the vaccine will subsequently be delivered in monthly tranches.
In the same vein, Africa Centre for Disease Control has explained why Johnson and Johnson (J&J) vaccine was chosen for the continent.
Amadou Cheick Tidiane, Africa CDC representative, said the vaccine was chosen because it is a single shot vaccine with a long shelf-life.
He explained;
First of all, as a single-shot vaccine, it is easier and cheaper to administer; second, the vaccine has a long shelf-life and favourable storage conditions.
Last, but not least, the vaccine is partly manufactured on the African continent, with fill-finish activities taking place in South Africa.
On Thursday, the federal government took delivery of the first batch of 177,600 doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, which was procured through the AU’s AVAT and the facility provided by Afreximbank.
