The Lagos State government has announced that the COVID-19 vaccination will resume today.

The state also announced that it has acquired a sequencing machine to identify COVID-19 variants and improve its response to the pandemic and other pathogens.

A statement by Mr Tunbosun Ogunbanwo, Director, Public Affairs in the Ministry of Health, said the state acquired an MGI DNBSEQ-G400 sequencing machine and a complete workstation for sequencing of COVID-19 variants and other pathogens.

“This critical health infrastructure, which is the first of its kind in Nigeria and Sub Saharan Africa, is geared toward improving the diagnosis, research and outbreak investigation capacity of the Lagos State Biobank (LSB).

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“It will also assist in promptly detecting and understanding the genomics of pathogens of high consequences and infectious diseases,” Ogunbanwo said.

The Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, said the number of confirmed COVID-19 infections in the state now stands at 70,729.

Abayomi made the disclosure through his Facebook account @ProfAkinolaAbayomi, on Tuesday, while giving the state’s COVID-19 update for August 22.

He said 2,009 tests were conducted on the reported date, out of which 166 new COVID-19 infections were confirmed in the state.

According to him, the new infections increased the state’s total COVID-19 infections to 70,729.