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The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has on Wednesday said an estimated 10.4 million children in seven countries including Nigeria suffer acute malnutrition in 2021. This was made known in a statement, saying there are concerns over the health of the projected children in Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Sudan, South Sudan, Yemen, and the Republic of the Congo (DRV). “As 2021 approaches, UNICEF is deeply concerned for the health and well-being of 10.4 million children projected to suffer from acute malnutrition next year in those countries,” the statement said.

The World Health Organization (WHO), has warned that the coronavirus vaccine is not a guarantee to end the COVID-19 pandemic. The global health agency head of Emergencies programme, Mike Ryan, disclosed this during a press conference in Geneva, Switzerland.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has on Sunday reported 838 new confirmed cases of Coronavirus with 7 deaths, bringing the country's total to 84,414 cases and 1,254 deaths. According to the health agency, a total of 71,034 persons have recovered and been discharged, adding that the 838 cases were recorded in 16 states including FCT-297, Lagos-253, Plateau-82, Kaduna-57, Katsina-32, Nasarawa-31, Kano-25, Gombe-24, Oyo-8, Rivers-8, Zamfara-7, Ogun-4, Bauchi-4, Edo-4, Anambra-1, and Sokoto-1.

The Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr Chikwe Iheakwazu has disclosed that the mutant strain of the Coronavirus found in the United Kingdom (U.K) is yet to be discovered in Nigeria. Iheakwazu made the disclosure in Abuja during the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 (PTF) briefing, advising Nigerians to stay calm and adhere to the pandemic guidelines. He explained that the NCDC in collaboration with the Africa Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases (ACEGID), carrying out sequencing but did not find the UK variant.

President Muhammadu Buhari has yesterday tasked the governors of the 36 states of the Federation and the FCT to personally tackle the fight against the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic. Buhari also directed the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 to engage with the state governors to “Assume full ownership of this stage of the response” against the second wave of the COVID-19 strain.

The Nigerian Senate has concluded plan to engage the Federal Government to brainstorm on how to go about the procurement of the coronavirus vaccine. The plan was finalised during a meeting between the Executive and the legislative to fine-tune possible ways on how the Nigerian government can procure the vaccine for its citizenry. The meeting was presided over by the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, Zainab Ahmed Minister of Finance and National Planning; Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire; Minister of State for Health, Senn. Dr Olorunimbe Mamora; DG  National Budget and Planning, Ben Akabueze; DG National Centre for Disease Control, Chikwe Ihekweazu; and DG National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).