By ABUJAH RACHEAL

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has registered 49 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 165,468.

The NCDC disclosed this on its official Twitter handle on Monday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the country has tested 1,977,479 people since the beginning of pandemic on Feb. 27, 2020.

The public health agency noted that the 49 additional cases were reported from three states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

It said that FCT topped the list with 27 new cases, followed by Lagos, Enugu and Oyo with 11, 8 and 3 cases respectively.

The agency further stated that no COVID-19 patient died within the last 24 hours, while the number of people who recuperated from the virus increased by 21.

It also stated that the discharges included five community recoveries in the FCT managed in line with its guidelines.

The agency said that with the new recoveries on Monday, 156,318 cases had been discharged and 2,065 deaths recorded in the 36 states and FCT.

It added that a multi-sectoral national Emergency Operations Centre (EOC), activated at Level 3, continued to coordinate the national response activities.

Meanwhile, Nigeria has said the second dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines would soon be administered on eligible men and women who had received their first shots.

It said the commencement of the second dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccination would be in all states and the FCT, adding it had been approved by the Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) on COVID-19

NAN recalls that having received 3.94 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines in March, Nigeria commenced vaccination beginning with healthcare workers.

Nigeria has so far received about 4.1 million doses of the vaccine.

The Federal Government said it had plans to vaccinate 109 million people against the COVID-19 virus over a period of two years.

Health authorities said only eligible population from 18 years and above would be vaccinated in four phases.

The current phase of vaccination covered health workers and other frontline workers; although Nigerians from other groups are also getting vaccinated.

The country as of Monday, has inoculated 1,690,719 people with their first doses in this vaccination phase representing 84 per cent of the 4.1 million Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine received. (NAN)

Update news