COVID-19: Nigeria confirms two deaths, 433 cases Thursday, fourth wave ‘imminent’

Nigeria on Thursday recorded two additional fatalities from the coronavirus pandemic with 433 fresh cases reported across 16 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

This was contained in an update shared on the Facebook page of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) late Thursday night.

The data indicates that Nigeria’s total infection from the pandemic currently stands at 203,514 while the fatality toll increased to 2,668.

It also noted that four states- Nasarawa, Ogun, Osun and Sokoto – recorded no fresh cases.

Breakdown

The breakdown shows that the FCT also displaced Lagos, Nigeria’s coronavirus epicentre, with more cases on the log on Thursday. The country’s capital city reported 191 new cases while Lagos followed with only 79 cases and Anambra State with 63 cases.

In Nigeria’s South-south region, Rivers, Delta, Edo, Akwa Ibom and Bayelsa States recorded 27, nine, seven, five and two cases respectively.

Apart from Lagos, other Southwestern states of Oyo, Ondo and Ekiti States registered 10, eight and four cases respectively.

Also, apart from the FCT, Plateau State in the North-central reported 13 cases on Thursday.

In the North-east region, both Gombe and Borno States reported six and and five cases respectively, while the North-west States of Zamfara and Kano States recorded two and one cases respectively.

Only Enugu State from the South-east appears on the infection chart on Thursday with a single case.

Vaccination

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared that COVID-19 vaccine shipments to Africa must rise by seven times from about 20 million per month to 150 million each month on average.

Matshidiso Moeti, the organisation’s regional director for Africa, said this during a virtual news conference on Thursday.

She noted that the rise is necessary if the continent is to fully vaccinate 70 per cent of its people by September 2022.

She added that the United States pledged to share 500 million more COVID-19 vaccines to low-income countries between now and 2021, bringing its total pledges to more than 1.1 billion doses.

Variants

The regional director added that the Delta variant had been found in 38 African countries while the Alpha variant currently ravages 45 countries and the Beta variant in 40 of the 52-nation continent.

She said: ”Health workers, services and communities can and should use this time to regroup and prepare for the next wave.

“With end-of-year travel and festive celebrations fast approaching, fresh increases in cases should be expected in the coming months.

“Without widespread vaccination and other preventive measures, the continent’s fourth wave is likely to be the most brutal yet.”