The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) reported 1,016 new infections of COVID-19 Wednesday.
In a Twitter update via its verified handle, the government agency said there are now 86,576 confirmed cases of the disease caused by the novel coronavirus in Nigeria.
A total number of 71,937 people it said, have so far been discharged from hospital, while the number of deaths so far is 1,278.
As of Wednesday, more than 82.2 million cases of COVID-19 had been recorded worldwide, with more than 46.5 million cases considered recovered or resolved, according to Johns Hopkins. The global death toll was approaching 1.8 million.
In Africa, according to a CBC report, Zimbabwe has postponed the reopening of schools planned for next week due to a surge in coronavirus infections and a tropical storm sweeping through the region.
In Europe, the United Kingdom extended its highest tier of restrictions to three-quarters of England’s population. Also Wednesday, the U.K. became the first country to approve the AstraZeneca-Oxford COVID-19 vaccine.
China’s National Health Commission is encouraging tens of millions of migrant workers not to travel home during February’s Lunar New Year holiday to prevent spread of the coronavirus. Authorities are carrying out a campaign to vaccinate 50 million people before the holiday.
Brazil will soon weigh emergency-use approval for AstraZeneca’s vaccine after Britain gave the green light on Wednesday. Rio de Janeiro-based Fiocruz has agreed to import and bottle some 100 million doses by June and eventually produce the vaccine locally.
The US has seen more than 19.5 million cases of COVID-19 and recorded more than 338,000 COVID-19-related deaths since the pandemic began, according to Johns Hopkins University’s tracking tool.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday the COVAX initiative — a program to help get coronavirus vaccines to all countries — needs $4 billion US “urgently” to buy vaccines.