The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) reported 1,114 new infections of COVID-19 Friday.
In a Twitter update via its verified handle, the government agency said there are now 128,674 confirmed cases of the disease caused by the novel coronavirus in Nigeria.
A total of 102,780 people it stated, have so far been discharged from hospital, while the number of deaths so far is 1,577.
As of Friday, more than 101.9 million cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide, with 56.3 million of those considered recovered or resolved, according to a tracking tool maintained by Johns Hopkins University. The global death toll stood at just over 2.2 million.
In Africa, CBC reports, the African Union secured another 400 million doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine in a push to immunize 60 per cent of the continent’s population over a three-year period.
Meanwhile, Algeria received its first coronavirus vaccines Friday, a shipment of Russia’s Sputnik V, according to the health minister. Minister Amar Belhimeur didn’t indicate how many arrived, although the government has said it had ordered a first batch of 500,000 doses.
Europe’s medicines regulator on Friday recommended approving AstraZeneca and Oxford University’s COVID-19 vaccine for people over the age of 18.
Europe urgently needs more shots to speed up its inoculation programme with suppliers such as AstraZeneca and Pfizer facing difficulties in delivering the quantities promised for the early months of the year.
The shot is the third COVID-19 vaccine given the green light by the European Medicines Agency, after ones made by Pfizer and Moderna. Both were authorized for all adults. The decision required final approval from the European Commission, which was granted later Friday.
“There are not yet enough results in older participants (over 55 years old) to provide a figure for how well the vaccine will work in this group,” the regulator said, but noted that “protection is expected, given that an immune response is seen in this age group and based on experience with other vaccines.
“EMA’s scientific experts considered that the vaccine can be used in older adults.”
Denmark will extend its current coronavirus restrictions by three weeks in order to curb the spread of a more contagious coronavirus variant first registered in Britain.
Portugal, which is facing serious strain on its health-care system, extended a nationwide lockdown until mid-February and announced curbs on international travel.