COVID-19: NCDC announces 49 new cases, total now 165,661

By ABUJAH RACHEAL

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has announced 49 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 165,661.

The NCDC disclosed this on its official Twitter handle on Friday.

It stated that Enugu State registered 22, while Lagos recorded 18, Rivers 6, Akwa Ibom 2 and Edo 7.

The agency said the total number of deaths remained at 2,066, as the death toll continued to decline with only five recorded in the last 29 days.

It said 12 people were discharged on Friday after testing negative to the virus, bringing the total number of discharged cases after treatment to 156,399.

The public health institute said over 7,000 cases were still active in the country.

It however stated that the country had tested 1,977,479 since the beginning of the pandemic on Feb. 27, 2020.

The NCDC said that a multi-sectoral national Emergency Operations Centre (EOC), activated at Level 3, had continued to coordinate the national response activities.

It added that COVID-19 spread amongst persons who were in close contact.

“Maintaining a distance of two meters from other people will help to limit the spread of COVID-19.

“Adhere to all non-pharmaceutical measures on COVID-19 prevention.

#takeresponsibility and stay safe,” it advised.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Nigeria has received about four million doses out of 16 million of the AstraZeneca vaccine expected from COVAX.

COVAX is the vaccine-sharing initiative that provides free and discounted doses for lower-income countries.

According to the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), the remaining doses are being expected soon based on available information.

Additionally, the agency said Nigeria was expecting about 40 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine from the African Union (AU).

It however did not give specific dates the vaccines were being expected from COVAX and AU.

It explained that with 1,767,488 Nigerians vaccinated as at May 14, the percentage targeted with the first jab was 87.8 per cent.

NAN reports that so far, the country has received about 4.1 million doses of the vaccine.

Meanwhile, Nigeria government has plan to vaccinate 109 million people against the COVID-19 virus over a period of two years. (NAN)