Omicron variant: Nigeria records 828 new cases
..UK govt monitors data, begins Visa processing for Nigerians
…Rivers records highest figure
…As FG warns citizens to take responsibility for their health
By Uthman Salami and Abimbola Abatta
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has recorded 828 confirmed new cases of Omicron, revealing that the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Nigeria has increased to 223,483.
According to NCDC’s latest figure on COVID-19 in the country, the 828 new cases were recorded in 14 states in the country.
Rivers State had the highest number of cases with 188 infections confirmed in the State.
“Till date, 223,483 cases have been confirmed, 211,522 cases have been discharged and 2984 deaths have been recorded in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
“The 828 new cases were reported from 14 States including Rivers (188), Lagos (183), Delta (97), FCT (82), Oyo (67), Edo (54), Ekiti (34), Plateau (34), Kano (27), Anambra (22), Kaduna (19), Enugu (12), Ogun (5), and Kwara (4),” NCDC reported on its website.
The 828 new cases show the surge in the number of cases in the country maintained.
Only on Friday, 1,584 new infections were recorded, the highest cases ever in 10 months.
FG warns Nigerians to take responsibility for their health
The Federal Government on Thursday warned Nigerians to take responsibility for their health as COVID-19 cases continued to rise in the country.
The Minister of State for Health, Dr Olorunmimbe Mamora said among other measures, there was the need for Nigerians to take responsibility for their to tackle COVID-19.
Mamora said this as COVID-19 cases continued to increase, with the country recording 5,398 infections between December 6 and 15.
Meanwhile, the Canadian government had earlier said it would, on December 18, lift the travel ban on 10 African countries including Nigeria.
The Canadian Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos had announced that the ban would be lifted effective December 18 at 11:59 p.m. ET.
“While we recognize the controversial nature of such a prohibition, we believe it was a necessary measure to slow the arrival of Omicron in Canada,” Mr Duclos said at a news conference in Ottawa.
“Given the current situation, this measure has served its purpose and is no longer needed.”
Canada is also reimposing its requirement for Canadians taking short trips abroad to get a COVID-19 test before returning to Canada.
Mr. Duclos said the pre-entry testing requirement will take effect on December 21 and travellers must take the test in a country other than Canada.
Canada’s late November restricted travels from Nigeria and the nine other countries over the spread of the recently discovered Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
During last week, the UK government had also from Wednesday said it would remove Nigeria, along with other African Countries from its travel red list.
While explaining the rationale behind the latest development, the Health Secretary Sajid Javid told Parliament that, “Now that there is community transmission of Omicron in the UK and Omicron has spread so widely across the world, the travel red list is now less effective in slowing the incursion of Omicron from abroad.”
“Whilst we will maintain our temporary testing measures for international travel we will be removing all 11 countries from the travel red list effective from 4am tomorrow morning,” he said.
Now, all UK arrivals from red list countries must pay for and self-isolate in a pre-booked, government-approved hotel for 10 days.
They must also take COVID tests within 48 hours of setting off for the UK and PCR tests within two days of their arrival.
