Health

The Canadian government has extended its travel ban to include Nigeria and those who visited Nigeria recently over the fear of the spread of the coronavirus variant, Omicron. The Canadian Authorities had earlier revealed today that it has detected the new Omicron variant of the covid-19 amongst the people who recently visited Nigeria. The Canadian Health Minister, Jean-Yves Duclos today disclosed that Egypt and Malawi are other African countries that were added to its list, making the list now to a total of 10 countries in Africa that were meted with the travel ban by the Canadian authorities.

Following the index case of the COVID-19 Omicron variant in South Africa, the Federal Government has said it will on Tuesday issue new travel protocol in line with proactive measures against the new variant from Nigeria. The National Incident Manager of the Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) on COVID-19, Mr. Mukhtar Muhammad made the disclosure during a press briefing on Monday, saying the World Health Organization (WHO) has flagged the variant high risk, designating the Omicron as a “variant of concern”.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), said the country has recorded 58 fresh cases of COVID-19 infections on Saturday, thereby raising the total number of cases since the begining of the pandemic to 213,982. The public health agency noted zero deaths which keeps the total fatality toll at 2,975. NCDCD revealed that the 58 new cases were reported from nine states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Several countries including the UK, Israel and Singapore have banned travelers coming from some Southern African from entering their countries over a new COVID-19 variant first identified in the region. On Thursday, the new variant, B.1.1. 529, with a very high number of mutations was discovered in South Africa. Confirming the discovery in a statement on Thursday, the country’s National Institute for communicable Diseases (NICD) said 22 positive cases of the new variant have so far been detected in the country. Israel, which recorded its first confirmed three cases of the B.1.1.529 on Friday, has also stopped entry from the six countries including South Africa, Botswana, Estiwatini, Namibia and Zimbabwe. It later added Mozambique to its list. It barred its citizens from travelling to southern Africa, and also required returning Israelis to quarantine.

The National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA) has yesterday disclosed that its agency has vaccinated about 5.8million Nigerians for the first dose of the pandemic coronavirus and still counting. The Kwara state coordinator for NPHCDA, Mrs. Debora Oladipo made this known yesterday in Ilorin during the mass COVID-19 vaccination in the state. According to Mrs. Oladipo, a total of 5,891,305 persons which amounts to about 5.3% of the Nigerian total population eligible for the vaccination have taken the first dose, while 3,252,067 that is 2.9% have taken the second dose and fully vaccinated.

Nigeria has recorded more than 90,000 cases and over 3,000 Cholera related deaths across 35 states in 2021 with individual states reporting at least 5 cases each. The vast majority of reported cases have been concentrated in Bauchi, Kano, Jigawa, Zamfara, Sokoto, and Katsina. Six (6) cholera treatment centres have been opened across the northern region so as to bring the outbreak under control. The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in its latest epidemiological report released on Sunday stated that four deaths and 78 suspected cholera cases were reported in the country from November 1 to 7, 2021.