The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) reported 1,444 new infections of COVID-19 Sunday.
In a Twitter update via its verified handle, the government agency said there are now 110,387 confirmed cases of the disease caused by the novel coronavirus in Nigeria.
A total of 89,317 people it stated, have so far been discharged from hospital, while the number of deaths so far is 1,435.
As of Sunday, more than 94.7 million cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide, with more than 52.1 million of those considered recovered or resolved, according to Johns Hopkins University’s COVID-19 case tracking tool. The global death toll stood at just over two million.
Ghana President Nana Akufo-Addo says infection rates are skyrocketing and warned he would impose another partial lockdown if the current trend is not curbed.
According to Al Jazeera, South Africa’s health services are buckling under the strain of soaring COVID-19 infections driven partly by a new variant of coronavirus spreading across the country.
Medical professionals warn that the “relentless” infection wave that has seen more than 130,000 new COVID-19 cases and 4,000 related deaths in the last week alone threatens to overrun both public and private hospitals.
“As soon as beds open, there are more than 10 people waiting to fill them – we cannot cope,” a medical officer working at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Johannesburg told Al Jazeera.
“This has been relentless and far worse than the first wave of infections.”
Meanwhile, South Africa is reportedly struggling against ‘relentless’ COVID-19 surge.
The new variant, referred to as 501.V2, has been found in all of the country’s nine provinces, as well as beyond the country’s borders, leading several countries to ban flights from South Africa.
In Europe, according to the CBC, Austria is extending its lockdown until February 7 in an attempt to bring down still-high infection figures, as authorities worry about the possible impact of more infectious variants of the coronavirus.
Pakistan’s planning minister says the country’s drug regulatory authority has approved the use of Oxford-AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, and the government is trying to make it available by the first quarter of the year. Mexico posted its second straight day of more than 20,000 coronavirus cases, suggesting a surge in a country already struggling in many areas with overflowing hospitals.