The spread of novel Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) in Nigeria continues to record significant increases as the latest statistics provided by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control reveal Nigeria now has 164,303 confirmed cases.

On the 19th of April 2021, 70 new confirmed cases were recorded in Nigeria.

To date, 164,303 cases have been confirmed, 154,384 cases have been discharged and 2,061 deaths have been recorded in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

A total of 1.84 million tests have been carried out as of April 17th, 2021 compared to 1.81 million tests a day earlier.

COVID-19 Case Updates- 19th April 2021,

• Total Number of Cases – 164,303
• Total Number Discharged – 154,384
• Total Deaths – 2,061
• Total Tests Carried out – 1,838,174

According to the NCDC, the 70 new cases were reported from 5 states- Lagos (27), Kaduna (16), Ondo (16), Yobe (6), and Bauchi (5).

Meanwhile, the latest numbers bring Lagos state total confirmed cases to 58,119, followed by Abuja (19,756), Plateau (9,035), Kaduna (9,014), Rivers (7,060), Oyo (6,839), Edo (4,897), Ogun (4,639), Kano (3,942), Ondo (3,226), Kwara (3,120), Delta (2,617), Osun (2,572), Nasarawa (2,380), Enugu (2,281), Katsina (2,097), Gombe (2,034), Ebonyi (2,020), Anambra (1,909), Akwa Ibom (1,843), and Abia (1,683).

Imo State has recorded 1,655 cases, Bauchi (1,540), Borno (1,337), Benue (1,188), Adamawa (1,063), Niger (930), Taraba (910), Bayelsa (885), Ekiti (869), Sokoto (775), Jigawa (527), Kebbi (450), Cross River (394), Yobe (365), Zamfara (240), while Kogi state has recorded 5 cases only.

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Lock Down and Curfew

In a move to combat the spread of the pandemic disease, President Muhammadu Buhari directed the cessation of all movements in Lagos and the FCT for an initial period of 14 days, which took effect from 11 pm on Monday, 30th March 2020.

The movement restriction, which was extended by another two weeks period, has been partially put on hold with some businesses commencing operations from May 4. On April 27th, 2020, Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari declared an overnight curfew from 8 pm to 6 am across the country, as part of new measures to contain the spread of the COVID-19. This comes along with the phased and gradual easing of lockdown measures in FCT, Lagos, and Ogun States, which took effect from Saturday, 2nd May 2020, at 9 am.

On Monday, 29th June 2020 the federal government extended the second phase of the eased lockdown by 4 weeks and approved interstate movement outside curfew hours with effect from July 1, 2020. Also, on Monday 27th July 2020, the federal government extended the second phase of eased lockdown by an additional one week.

On Thursday, 6th August 2020 the federal government through the secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and Chairman of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 announced the extension of the second phase of eased lockdown by another four (4) weeks.

Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State announced the closed down of the Eti-Osa Isolation Centre, with effect from Friday, 31st July 2020. He also mentioned that the Agidingbi Isolation Centre would also be closed and the patients relocated to a large capacity centre.

Due to the increased number of covid-19 cases in Nigeria, the Nigerian government ordered the reopening of Isolation and treatment centres in the country on Thursday, 10th December 2020.

On 26th January 2021, the Federal Government announced the extension of the guidelines of phase 3 of the eased lockdown by one month following the rising cases of the coronavirus disease in the country and the expiration of phase 3 of the eased lockdown.

On 28th February 2021, the federal government confirmed that the first tranche of Covid-19 vaccines will arrive in Nigeria on Tuesday, March 2nd, 2021.

On Tuesday, 2nd March 2021, the National Primary health Care Development Agency announced the arrival of the expected COVX Astrazeneca/Oxford covid-19 vaccines.

On Saturday, 6th March 2021, President Muhammadu Buhari and his vice, Yemi Osinbajo received vaccination against the covid-19 as the State House in Abuja.

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Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE have announced that they would supply an additional 100 million doses of their Covid-19 vaccines to the 27 European Union member states in 2021.

This follows the decision of the European Union (EU) to exercise its option to buy an additional 100 million doses of the vaccine under its expanded purchase agreement which was signed on February 17.

“This brings the total number of doses to be delivered to the 27 EU members to 600 million in 2021,” the companies said in a statement.

According to a report from the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the Covid-19 vaccine, COMIRNATY, is to be produced at BioNTech’s and Pfizer’s manufacturing sites in Europe.

The companies revealed plans to deliver 250 million doses to the EU in the second quarter, a fourfold increase on the first quarter’s agreed quantity.

The Chief business and Chief commercial officer of BioNTech, Sean Marett, said, “The additional 100 million doses from this option exercise will further help to support the acceleration of the vaccination campaigns throughout the EU.

“We now intend to deliver a total of 600 million doses to the EU this year, which covers two-thirds of the EU population and represents the largest cumulative supply agreement for COMIRNATY that we have agreed to date globally.’’

In case you missed it

The Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine, COMIRNATY, had been granted conditional marketing authorisation by the European Medicines Agency to prevent coronavirus disease 2019 in people from 16 years of age. The European Medicines Agency’s (EMA’s) human medicines committee (CHMP) has completed its rigorous evaluation of COMIRNATY^®, concluding by consensus that sufficiently robust data on the quality, safety and efficacy of the vaccine are now available.

The Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of Pfizer, Albert Bourla, said that they remain committed to moving as quickly and safely as possible to bring this vaccine to more people in Europe, as the deadly virus continues to wreak havoc across the continent.

He also pointed out that to date, they have met all of their supply commitments to the EU and plan to deliver 250 million doses to the European Union in Q2, a fourfold increase on Q1’s agreed quantity.