- 365 Cases Confirmed Over the Same period
By Nduka Ezediuno
In the last 24 hours, about eight persons are said to have died from COVID-19 infection in Nigeria.
This was revealed by the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire during the Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19 press briefing in Abuja.
The also revealed that out of 2,941,438 samples tested so far, 365 cases were confirmed positive over the last 24hrs.
“As of today, we have recorded a total of 199,151 confirmed cases of Covid 19, 365 in the past 24hours, from 2,941,438 samples tested so far.
“We have also sadly altogether lost 2,598 persons, 8 in the past 24hrs, and a case fatality rate of 1.3%, a slight increase over the 1.2% of a few weeks ago”, Ehanire said.
He warned against undermining the possible catastrophic impact of the 3rd wave of the pandemic, following less number of infections and deaths recorded so far.
He reiterated that the Delta variant of the virus is present in Nigeria, as he called for optimum adherence to protective guidelines and rules, as already put in place by the Federal Ministry Health, working with its agencies, departments and development partners such as the World Health Organisation, (WHO).
“The dreaded 3rd wave of Covid-19 may appear to be leveling out, because there been no catastrophic increases in infections and fatalities. But it is not wise to assume that the threat is gone, especially as cases are fluctuating and have to be identified by genomic sequencing.
“Evidence so far, however, is that the Delta strain is already the dominant in Nigeria. We must keep our protective measures in place and increase testing to determine our situation”, he admonished.
On reports of new mutations of the coronavirus, Dr. Ehanire explained that authorities are staying vigilant at all entry points into the country, using available resources to checkmate eventualities of importation new variants if imported into the country.
“There are reports of new coronavirus mutations circulating in other countries, a development we shall monitor with all tools available to us, to ensure we respond appropriately. We also remain on alert at
“Points of Entry, including land and sea borders, to confront importation of Covid-19. Several cases have been indeed been identified by Rapid Diagnostic test and taken care of accordingly”, he posited.
The minister also revealed that vaccines have been dispatched across all states of the federation for effective coordination of the second phase of COVID-19 vaccination.
He ceased the opportunity at the briefing to appeal to striking Resident Doctors to return to work, and harken unto the pledge of President Muhammadu Buhari to settle all outstanding debts once they are verified and cleared.
