The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has recorded 1,244 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 101,331.
The NCDC made this known on its official Twitter handle on Monday.
The death toll so far from the virus in the country is now 1,361, while 80, 491 have been discharged from hospital following recovery.
Global cases of the coronavirus have topped 90 million, as the number of deaths approaches 1.9 million. In the United States, more than 375,000 people have died from the virus. The number of cases is now more than 22 million, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.
In the Americas, according to a CBC report, US president-elect Joe Biden received his second dose of the coronavirus vaccine, three weeks after getting his first one with television cameras rolling, in an attempt to reassure people in the US that the inoculations are safe.
Elsewhere in the US, two gorillas at the San Diego Zoo have tested positive for COVID-19 after exhibiting symptoms of the disease, California’s governor said on Monday, in what is believed to be the first known transmission of the virus to apes.
Gov. Gavin Newsom, in his latest coronavirus update for the state, said the source of the gorillas’ infection was still under investigation to determine whether the virus was transmitted between animals or from humans to the apes.
A statement posted on the San Diego Zoo Safari Park website said the gorillas were suspected of having contracted infection “from an asymptomatic staff member,” despite employees following all COVID-19 safety precautions recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The spokesperson for Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Sunday he has tested positive for coronavirus, but there was no word on whether the president had been tested.
In Africa, South Africa is struggling to cope with a spike in COVID-19 cases that has already overwhelmed some hospitals, as people returning from widespread holiday travel along the coast spread the country’s more infectious coronavirus variant.
Of particular concern is Gauteng province, the country’s most populous, which includes the cities of Johannesburg and Pretoria. Authorities say it is already seeing a spike in new infections after people travelled to coastal areas, where the variant is dominant.
