Covid-19: Cinemas, fun centres disregard safety protocols nationwide
…Omicron variant reaches community transmission — NCDC
…Blanket booster jabs may breed new variant — WHO
Abimbola Abatta and Uthman Salami
As Nigeria is experiencing the 4th wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, cinemas and fun centres across the country have continued to flout the precautionary measures put in place to cushion the spread of the virus.
Nigerians who patronise cinemas and fun centres disregarded the safety protocols during the Christmas celebrations.
When Nigerian NewsDirect visited some centres including, Santa Cruz beach, Just Rite, Olusegun Obasanjo Cinema, Boatride centre, Halaga, as well as Osun Mall and Chicken Republic in Ibadan, the level of compliance was below minimal.
Meanwhile, amid the disregard for safety protocols, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) said 21 people died of coronavirus on Christmas Day, bringing the total number of COVID-19 deaths to 3014.
NCDC, in its daily update released early early Sunday, disclosed this.
This is even as the NCDC confirmed the community transmission of the COVID-19 Omicron variant in the country.
According to the NCDC, “On the 25th of December 2021, 1305 new confirmed cases and 21 deaths were recorded in Nigeria.
“The 1305 new cases are reported from 14 States – Lagos (705), Oyo (234), Ondo (88), Kaduna (79), Rivers (78), Ogun (30), Anambra (25), Kano (24), Enugu (12), Ekiti (11), Jigawa (6), Osun (6), Plateau (6) and Zamfara (1).
“A multi-sectoral national emergency operations centre, activated at Level 2, continues to coordinate the national response activities.”
The centre has confirmed 236,014 cases; 212,357 cases have been discharged and 3,014 deaths have been recorded in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
On the community transmission of Omicron, NCDC over the weekend said additional 39 cases of Omicron had been discovered, bringing the total to 45.
The Centre also disclosed that Nigeria has not recorded any death from the variant.
The Director-General (NCDC) Dr Ifedayo Adetifa, disclosed the development during a webinar on the surge in COVID-19 cases across the country.
Noting that the Omicron had pushed up the number of cases of coronavirus in Nigeria, Adetifa said the variant is gradually becoming dominant.
He explained that “the six earlier detected Omicron cases were detected in persons with recent travel history to South Africa. It is important for Nigerians to maintain physical distance and avoid contact with anyone showing symptoms of respiratory illness.
“We are counting on you to celebrate responsibly and take responsibility to keep yourself and your loved ones safe from COVID-19.”
Adetifa urged that the measures to curb the spread of Omicron included reducing group sizes, increasing physical distancing, reducing the duration of contacts and closing high-risk premises.
He noted that indoor mixing was the “biggest risk factor” for the spread of Omicron and that large gatherings risked creating “multiple spreading events.”
Blanket booster jabs may breed new variant – WHO
On its part, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has criticised what it described as blanket Covid vaccine booster programmes amid vaccine inequities in poor countries.
According to WHO, vaccine inequality could lead to the emergence of more mutant variants and perpetuate the pandemic.
The Director General of the WHO, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus who gave the warning said the unequal access to immunisations could lead to more mutated variants that drag out the crisis.
He stated, “Blanket booster programmes are likely to prolong the pandemic, rather than ending it, by diverting supply to countries that already have high levels of vaccination coverage, giving the virus more opportunity to spread and mutate.”
