The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) reported 1,664 new infections of COVID-19 Wednesday.
In a Twitter update via its verified handle, the government agency said there are now 94,369 confirmed cases of the disease caused by the novel coronavirus in Nigeria.
A total of 77,299 people it stated, have so far been discharged from hospital, while the number of deaths so far is 1,324.
As of late Wednesday, there were more than 86.9 million cases of COVID-19 worldwide, with more than 48.6 million of those cases considered recovered or resolved, according to a tracking tool maintained by Johns Hopkins University. The global death toll stood at more than 1.8 million.
The CBC reports that millions of South Africans will have their vaccinations subsidised by medical schemes that pool health insurance premiums through an agreement with the government, a top medical scheme administrator said.
In Senegal, President Macky Sall has put the country’s capital and surrounding region on curfew as coronavirus cases surge. While the country has been commended for its handling of the pandemic, it experienced a December surge with some 3,200 confirmed cases, and the president said the number of deaths increased sixfold between November and December.
The European Union’s medicines agency has given approval to Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine.
The decision Wednesday gives the 27-nation bloc a second vaccine to use against the coronavirus rampaging across the continent. The approval recommendation by the European Medicines Agency’s human medicines committee, which must be OK’d by the EU’s executive commission, comes amid high rates of infection in many EU countries.
Portugal’s President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said on Wednesday he would self-isolate after being in contact with someone who tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
The 72-year-old is campaigning to win a second term as the country’s president in an election on Jan. 24. He has several presidential debates scheduled before then.
Norway is preparing legislation that would allow it to introduce curfews after new cases hit record levels, its justice minister said.
Switzerland, meanwhile, plans to extend its lockdown restrictions by five weeks to the end of February.
Authorities in Thailand say they plan to expand coronavirus testing to thousands of factories in a province near Bangkok as they reported 365 new cases around the country and one new death.
South Korea rolled out mass testing for 52 prisons in the country after a massive prison outbreak and may extend flight suspensions from Britain, the health minister said.
Chinese authorities imposed travel restrictions and banned gatherings in the capital city of Hebei province, which surrounds Beijing, to stave off another coronavirus wave.
The Philippines is negotiating with seven vaccine manufacturers to procure at least 148 million COVID-19 shots as it seeks to inoculate close to two-thirds of its population this year, a senior official said on Wednesday.