The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) reported 343 new cases of COVID-19 Thursday.
In a Twitter update via its verified handle, the government agency said there are now 68,303 confirmed cases of the disease caused by the novel coronavirus in Nigeria.
A total number of 64,291 people it said, have so far been discharged from hospital, while the number of deaths so far is 1,179.
As of Thursday, there were more than 65 million reported cases of COVID-19 worldwide, with more than 41.6 million of those listed as recovered or resolved, according to a tracking tool maintained by U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University. The global death toll stood at more than 1.5 million.
Africa’s top public health official reportedly said 60 per cent of the continent’s population needs to be vaccinated against the coronavirus in the next two to three years. The director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, John Nkengasong, told reporters that if it takes four to five years, “the virus will be endemic in our communities.”
According to the CBC, concerns are growing that the continent of 1.3 billion people will be near the end of the line in obtaining doses. Nkengasong isn’t sure whether vaccines will be available in Africa before the second quarter of next year. But he pushed back against vaccine misinformation, saying that “if I had my way today to take a flight to the UK and get that vaccine, I would be doing it right now.”
The continent now has well over 2.1 million confirmed virus cases and more than 52,000 COVID-19-related deaths.
South Africa on Thursday tightened some COVID-19 rules in the Eastern Cape province where infections are rising the most, curbing movement and gatherings, but decided against reinstating a nationwide lockdown.
In a televised address President Cyril Ramaphosa announced an enhanced curfew in the eastern Nelson Mandela Bay area, while indoor gatherings would be limited to 100 people and alcohol consumption in public is prohibited.
The United States again led the world in total COVID-19 deaths, with more than 275,000, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. This marks the first time the US has seen more than 100,000 deaths than second-place Brazil, where some 174,000 have died.
Tributes poured in from France and around the world on Thursday, a day after former French president Valéry Giscard d’Estaing died of complications from COVID-19 at age 94.
Coronavirus infections in Russia have hit a new record, as the country’s authorities reported 28,145 new confirmed cases — the highest daily spike in the pandemic and an increase of 2,800 cases from those registered the previous day.
The Japanese city of Osaka is urging residents to stay home as much as possible until mid-December because of a resurgence of COVID-19 infections and hospitalisations. Osaka reported 386 new cases Thursday, and with overcrowding hospitals, some patients were sent to neighbouring areas for treatment.
Cases have been expanding rapidly across the country, including the Tokyo region, Aichi in central Japan and Hokkaido in the north.