The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) reported 1,131 new infections of COVID-19 Wednesday.
In a Twitter update via its verified handle, the government agency said there are now 142,578 confirmed cases of the disease caused by the novel coronavirus in Nigeria.
A total of 116,947 people it stated, have so far been discharged from hospital, while the number of deaths so far is 1,702.
As of Wednesday, more than 107.2 million cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide, with 59.9 million of the cases listed by Johns Hopkins University considered recovered or resolved. The global death toll stood at more than 2.3 million.
In Africa, the CBC reported that South Africa’s health minister said the country will begin administering the unapproved Johnson & Johnson vaccine to its front-line health workers next week. The workers will be monitored to see what protection the J&J shot provides from COVID-19, particularly against the variant dominant in the country.
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said Wednesday that South Africa scrapped its plans to use the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine because it “does not prevent mild to moderate disease” of the variant dominant in South Africa.
Mkhize asserted that the J&J vaccine, which is still being tested internationally, is safe. He said those shots will be followed by a campaign to vaccinate an estimated 40 million people in South Africa by the end of the year. The minister said the country will be using the Pfizer vaccine and others, possibly including the Russian Sputnik V, Chinese Sinopharm and Moderna vaccines.
Meanwhile, Ghana’s parliament has been suspended for at least three weeks following a surge in coronavirus cases among parliament members and staff.
Speaker Alban Bagbin announced the suspension late Tuesday, saying that at least 17 members of parliament and 151 staffers have tested positive for the virus. He has urged lawmakers and other parliament staffers to get tested.
Meetings, however, will continue of the parliament appointments committee to nominate ministry posts for the administration of President Nana Akufo-Addo, who was re-elected in December.
Ghana’s Health Services confirmed that there have been 73,003 cases and 482 deaths in the West African nation since the outbreak began last year.
