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Nigeria records 10 cases of COVID-19 Delta variant – NCDC

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By Gistflash News

July 27, 2021

Nigeria has so far recorded 10 new cases of the Delta COVID-19 variant.

The Director-General, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu discled this at the ministerial briefing on COVID-19 in Abuja,

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The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that the Delta variant is recognised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a variant of concern, given its increased transmissibility.

The variant has so far been detected in over 90 countries.

Ihekweazu, who was represented by Mrs Elsie Ilori, Director of Disease Surveillance Department, CDC while, giving an update on the Nigeria’s COVID-19 situation, said that while progress had been made in response to the ongoing pandemic with the fact paced development of diagnostic, therapeutic, and vaccines globally, variants of concern with increased transmissibility pose a threat.

“With sequencing efforts, we have detected 10 cases which are confirmed to be the Delta variant.

”We are working hard to ensure genomic surveillance of travelers’ samples and to scale up our genomic sequencing capacity.

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“While doing this, we are scaling up our testing capability, by the rollout of rapid Diagnostic Test Kits (RTDs), in selected states nationwide.

“As we have mentioned before, we encourage congregate setting, such as hospitals, schools, workplaces and correctional facilities, to take advantage of the WHO, approved RTDs kits to detect cases promptly,” he explained.

The NCDC boss disclosed that the country’s test positive rate based on Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), test alone, which he noted was an indication used to understand the level of virus transmission increased to 3.4 percent in the country.

“This represents a rise compared to Test Positivity Rate (TPR), which was sustained for several weeks at around 1 percent in the country. In addition, last week five deaths were recorded.

“These figures must serve as a strong warning to be even more on our guard regarding reducing the risk of COVID-19 spread, especially considering the more transmissible Delta variants detected in the country,” he advised.

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Ihekweazu stressed that Lagos state continued to have the highest contribution to the current caseload in the country.

He noted that states which have recently recorded increases in cases include Akwa Ibom, Ekiti, Oyo and Rivers states.

“Akwa Ibom had a sudden surge in cases in the last week and so, we have deployed a Rapid Response Team, to support the state’s response activities.

“The team will support Akwa Ibom’s Emergency Operations Centre incident management systems, ensure smooth running of samples collection centres, laboratory cases detection and general coordination,” he disclosed.

The DG said that while the agency continues to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was also focusing on other infectious diseases.

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“Our response to the cholera outbreak has continued and as at July 22, a total of 22,130 suspected cases and unfortunately 526 deaths, have been reported due to this illness in 18 states and the FCT.

“However, in the last two weeks, a decline in cases has been recorded and the Emergency Operations Centre, in collaboration with the Ministry of Water Resources, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) and other partners, is continuing to coordinate a multi sector response.,” he said.

The NCDC boss noted that the agency always ensured that it made records of challenges from each outbreak and put in measures to improve the next response.

“Last week, NCDC held a national COVID-19 intra action review with various stakeholders to review preparedness and outbreak response, to identify best practices, challenges and propose recommended actions,” he noted.

According to Ihekweazu, some areas of response which we are working on are that we have continued to reinvigorate our risk communications efforts, to ensure Nigerians understand that coronavirus is real and still poses a high risk.

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The DG added that in a bid to scale the use of RTDs tests, there have been training of trainers on the appropriate and safe use of these kits in several states, including a just concluded training in Bayelsa, and Benue.

Regarding improving surveillance of COVID-19 cases in the country, he added that the agency was training community volunteers to support case finding and contact tracing.

In a related development, the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire has warned that Nigeria was at risk of registering high incidences of the Delta variant of COVID-19.

This it said was due to neglect of preventive measures at Airports and other points of entry in the country.

Ehnaire decried that inspite of evidence of the emergence of a third wave in the country, passengers were  absconding quarantine at all points of entry.

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The minister also expressed concerns that citizens had refused to adhere to public health advisories, even as treatment bed occupancy was also registering an increase.

He expressed this concern while noting that countries that were popular travel destinations for Nigerians, including the UK, U.S., UAE, France and Turkey had  high incidence of this virulent variant.

“Nigeria is at increased risk if we continue to neglect public health protocols placed at points of entry, which are our first line of defence and a critical point of concern.

“The ministry’s Point of Entry (PoE) pillar of the COVID-91 response has been continuously monitoring passenger arrivals especially from high-risk countries like India, Turkey and Brazil.

”This process has been an arduous one given that port health staff have continued to report a trend of absconding by quarantined passengers, an act detrimental to our pandemic response and public health safety. 

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“The severity of this disease should NOT be disregarded as it is still a primary cause of concern, even in countries with stronger health systems,” he said.

The minister, therefore,  tasked all persons to comply with the Port Health staff or risk facing sanctions, which included prosecution.

“Non-compliance with their directives constitutes a risk to national health security and will be handled with commensurate severity.

“I wish to reemphasise that we must fervently avoid complacency and continue to abide by the given Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions. 

“Remember that Nigeria is a well-traversed country and is susceptible to further importation of the virus, especially when there is clear evidence that the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic has begun across the continent,” he added.

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The minister further stressed that in the past 24 hours, the world  witnessed an increase in reported cases of COVID-19 across a significant number of countries, due to the high transmissibility of the Delta Variant.

“As of  July 25, Nigeria had a total of 170,895 COVID-19 cases, and 2,132 fatalities. There are 4,180 active cases across the country, including 216 new cases recorded in the last 24 hours from 7 states.

“Nigeria started recording an increase in cases after the first case of the delta variant was reported early July,” he stressed.

In preparation for the third wave, Ehanire said the ministry had  taken steps to urgently scale-up and enhance local oxygen capacity even before oxygen consumption increased.

He also said Nigeria had invested directly and strategically to ensuring oxygen availability to avert unforeseen incidence of oxygen insufficiency for COVID-19 patients in the country.

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On COVID-19 vaccines, the minister said that Nigeria was expecting over 29 million of the Johnson & Johnson vaccines.

He said that the vaccine was purchased by the Government of Nigeria through the African Union’s African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team (AVATT)  facility and over four million of the Moderna.

He also said that Nigeria is expecting almost 700 thousand of the  AstraZeneca vaccine, through the COVAX facility from bilateral donations from the governments of the U.S. and the UK as well as Pfizer and Sinopharm from both bilateral agreements and through the COVAX facility.

Also speaking, Minister of State for Health, Sen. Olorunnimbe Mamora said that COVID-19 would continue to have a significant impact on the way Nigerians lived.

Mamora urged Nigerians to stay safe because a large portion of the country remained unvaccinated and highly contagious variants, like delta would be spreading as seen in many countries, spurring outbreaks. 

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Health

FG converts National Blood Service to commission

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By Gistflash News

Sept 25, 2021

The Federal Government has established the National Blood Service Commission (NBSC) to replace the National Blood Transfusion Service (NBTS) to coordinate, regulate and ensure the provision of safe, quality blood transfusion services.

This is contained in a statement by Abdullahi Haruna, the commission’s Head of Media and Publicity on Saturday, in Abuja.

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It explained that the NBTS was formerly a unit under the Department of Hospital Services in the Federal Ministry of Health, which was passed by the National Assembly and assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari.

It also disclosed that Dr Omale Joseph-Amedu, the National Coordinator, would serve as the Acting Director-General of the commission in line with the provisions of the Act establishing the commission.

“Commission which has the statutory mandate to coordinate, regulate and ensure the provision of safe, quality blood transfusion services on a country- wide basis within the national health plan.

“Therefore, the commission is legally mandated to ensure proper compliance with the National Blood Service Guidelines and standards.

“It will also maintain a system of quality assurance at all levels of service, encourage research in all aspects of blood transfusion services and promote the rational use of blood, blood products and alternatives to blood where appropriate.

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“The commission which takes effect immediately as National Blood Service Commission (NBSC) has communicated that its new name and status more aptly reflects the mandate of ensuring the availability of safe, quality and adequate blood services to all Nigerians,” it stated

NAN

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UK donates 1.2m COVID-19 vaccines to Nigeria – Envoy

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By Gistflash News

Sept 25, 2021

Ms. Catriona Laing, United Kingdom High Commissioner to Nigeria, says the UK Government has donated 1.2 million COVID-19 vaccines, through COVAX to Nigeria.
The Envoy said in a statement in Lagos on Saturday that the vaccines administered in the country were recognised by the UK Government.
“The UK Government is committed to global access to vaccines and is among the largest funders to COVAX.
” UK has donated 1.2 million vaccines specially to Nigeria through COVAX and will continue to provide support.
“UK strongly supports the work of the Nigerian health authorities and Nigeria’s vaccination campaign and strongly encourages all eligible residents in Nigeria to get vaccinated.
“I would like to emphasise that any statements that COVID-19 vaccines administered in Nigeria are not approved by the UK are completely untrue.
“The UK recognises the Oxford-Astra Zeneca, Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson and Johnson COVID 19 vaccines used in Nigeria, irrespective of where they are manufactured.” she said.
She allayed fears that Nigerians would be restricted from entering the UK from Oct. 4.
“The UK is committed to opening up international travel and we are using our COVID -19 vaccination certificate process.
” This is to enable those wishing to enter the UK to do so safety and we know this matters hugely to many people in the UK and Nigeria.
“From Oct. 4, the current system will be simplified and there will be a single red list of countries.
” Territories where stricter rules apply and there would be a rest of the world list with simplified travel measures.
“The rest of the world list will include countries currently on the UK’s amber list such as Nigeria.” she said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access which is abbreviated as COVAX, is a worldwide initiative.
It aims at equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines directed by Gavi, the Vaccine alliance, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the World Health Organisation (WHO)
It is one of the three pillars of the access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator, an initiative begun in April 2020 by WHO, the European Commission and the government of France as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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COVID-19: 4, 680,000 Nigerians vaccinated – NPHCDA

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By Gistflash News

Sept 25, 2021

The National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) says 4,680,000 Nigerians have so far been vaccinated against COVID-19 .

The Executive Director /Chief Executive Officer of the agency, Dr Faisal Shuaib, disclosed this during the South South zonal town hall meeting on COVID-19 vaccination on Saturday in Benin.

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The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the town hall meeting was organised by the Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19,  in collaboration with NPHCDA and the Edo government.

Shuaib noted that out of the 4,680,000 million vaccinated Nigerians, about 1,865,127 were fully vaccinated with the two doses.

He stated that the figure was below the nation’s target ,adding that the threats posed by the virus  could prevent the country from returning to normal living.

“I will  like to encourage us to use our good offices to encourage eligible members of our community to visit the nearest designated health facility to receive the vaccine.

“All the vaccines are currently available in designated vaccination sites across the country and are safe and effective,” he said.

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According to him, in the course of the next few weeks, NPHCDA plans to gradually involve the private sector as sites for COVID-19 vaccination.

Shuaib, however, disclosed that the Federal Government had set up a Joint Task Force on COVID-19 vaccine for monitoring and accountability in collaboration with the security agencies.

Earlier, the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire said  the town hall was organised to discuss COVID-19 vaccination, address mutual concerns and reach a consensus to ensure citizens were safe and protected against the deadly coronavirus.

Ehanire, said Nigeria had so far lost 2000 of her citizens to COVID-19, adding that the virus had also affected  the nation’s GDP.

According to him ,the  government needs to vaccinate 70 per cent of the population to effectively curb the spread of the virus.

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“The way out off this is to get vaccinated because those who have taken the vaccine have full protection while the unvaccinated are exposed to danger,” he said

He disclosed that the Federal Government was working with the private sector for the production of vaccine in the country.

According to the minister, records  have shown that over 90 per cent of deaths recorded from COVID-19 are  from unvaccinated persons.

Also speaking, Gov. Godwin Obaseki said the state had so far vaccinated over 130,000 residents against the virus.

Represented by his Chief of Staff, Osaigbovo Iyokha, Obaseki said the state target was to vaccinate 60 per cent of the population.

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