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The World Health Organisation (WHO) has announced 25 fresh coronavirus cases in Benue State, North-Central Nigeria.
The WHO surveillance officer for the state, Ogechukwu Chigbo, disclosed this at a one-day Civil Society Organisations and Media Engagement/Orientation meeting on the COVID-19 rampup in Makurdi, the state’s capital.
Ms Chigbo cautioned that COVID-19 is still prevalent in Nigeria, emphasising the need for people to take advantage of the availability of vaccines to protect themselves.
Meanwhile, as of August, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) said it was monitoring the new EG.5 and BA.2.86 subvariants of the Omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus reported in 51 countries.
While the NCDC is yet to report the new cases in Benue State, its COVID-19 dashboard as of 13 December shows a total of 266,675 confirmed cases and 3,155 deaths recorded in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (‘FCT).
Speaking further, Ms Chigbo noted that “there is a need to ensure that everybody gets vaccinated “because this is the period that we record outbreaks. And the reason why people are not coming down with the virus is because of the vaccine.”
“This year we recorded 25 cases in Benue, though no fatalities that is the more reason why we must all come out and get vaccinated,” she added.
She pointed out that the global organisation had decided to integrate COVID-19 vaccination into the routine immunisation exercise to further drive coverage in the state.
“We have been implementing a series of campaigns on COVID-19. We have had phases of it and we have been experiencing some challenges since we are not able to reach at least 70 per cent in Benue, it is better to have the vaccine integrated as part of the routine immunisation,” she said.
“We are aware that so many people have negative impressions about the vaccine but the vaccine is safe. The vaccine will protect you from coming down with severe infection. That is why we must all get ourselves vaccinated it is available in all health facilities that provide routine immunisation and it is free.”
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