COVID-19: Vaccines may not come too soon – Health Ministry

The Federal Government has warned Nigerians against complacency in containing the COVID-19 pandemic in the country, saying the vaccines against the virus might not arrive soon in Nigeria.

The Minister of State for Health, Sen. Olorunnimbe Mamora, said this on Thursday in Abuja, at the joint national briefing of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19.

Mamora said that though government was working very hard to get vaccines for Nigerians, it might not come soon enough.

He was represented by the Director, Hospital Services, Federal Ministry of Health, Dr Adebimpe Adebiyi.

“We need to be alive to get the vaccines when they come. I have brought this up to underscore the importance of compliance with non-pharmaceutical measures as advised to reduce transmission,” he said.

The minister added that as of Wednesday, new cases recorded were 1,354 with one death; while the total number of cases tested was 1,004,915.

“Number of confirmed cases is 94,369. Active cases stand at 15,764. Discharged cases till date are 77,299. Number of deaths till date is 1,324 with case fatality rate of 1.4 per cent.

“The Federal Government is determined to ensure morbidity due to COVID-19 is reduced to the barest minimum while improving on the fatality rate,” Mamora said.

He said that appropriate measures were being taken to achieve these objectives.

According to him, a second phase assessment of the isolation and treatment centres country-wide to verify challenges was to be carried out immediately.

This, he said, would enable government to provide appropriate intervention measures required to strengthen these centres.

“We will continue to appeal to states to increase testing and contact tracing. The cooperation of the states with the federal authorities is critical to our collective objective of defeating COVID-19,” he added.