By Moses Emorinken, Abuja

NIGERIA increasingly faces the threat of a third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially with the identification of 32 cases of the Delta variant in five states (Lagos, FCT, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Oyo).

This is according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

Epidemiological data from the weekly COVID-19 situation report by the NCDC revealed that in one week (July 26 to August 1, 2021), the number of new COVID-19 cases increased by 103.8 percent from 28 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT); from 1,579 to 3,218 cases. The number of discharges however increased from 90 to 218.

Sadly, there were 17 deaths reported in the last one week. Cumulatively, since the outbreak began in February, 2020, there have been 174,315 COVID-19 cases and 2,149 deaths reported with a case fatality rate (CFR) of 1.2 percent.

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Last week, the number of in-bound international travellers tested was 3,702, of which 155 were positive, while in the last two weeks, the number of out-bound international travellers tested was 5,529, of which 207 were positive.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) COVID-19 dashboard as of August 6, 2021, globally, the count for confirmed cases is 200,174,883 with 4,255,892 deaths.

All these are coming especially as the country received 4 million doses of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine from the United States as Nigeria ramps up efforts to battle the third wave of infections.

The vaccine is the second batch of vaccines to arrive the country after four million doses of AstraZeneca were delivered in March under the COVAX facility.

COVAX was set up to ensure the equitable distribution of vaccines, particularly to low-income countries, and has already delivered more than 80 million doses to 129 territories.

Recall that on July 15, 2021, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) approved the emergency use of three vaccines – AstraZeneca (from Korea), Sputnik V from Russia, and the Moderna which is produced by Rovi Pharma Madrid, Spain.