*Says, Nigeria is not in the level of threat
As the third wave of the novel coronavirus pandemic continues to ravage countries around the world, the Federal Government said on Thursday said that its not considering the possibility of a second lockdown in the country.
Speaking during the 18th edition of the weekly ministerial press briefing organized by the Presidential Communications Team at the presidential villa, Abuja, the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire said, despite the presence of the Delta variant of the coronavirus in the country, Nigeria was not at the level of threat.
Ehanire said that countries have been a bit circumspect in the decision to impose total lockdowns as was seen at the beginning of the outbreak last year.
He added that the administration would rather employ precision lockdowns on specific areas of the country that have come under threat.
The Minister further disclosed that apart from the vaccines sourced free of charge, Nigeria has paid for about 30 million doses of Johnson & Johnson doses.
He explained that since the prices of the one-shot vaccine has dropped, the country hopes to purchase about 40 million doses of the vaccines in all.
Ehanire said the 176,000 doses of the Johnson&Johnson doses have already been received while the remaining will come in batches.
He assured that the majority of vaccines used in the country will be bought by government rather than depending on those gifted to it by other countries.
The Director General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, noted that the cases of COVID-19 recently sequenced in Nigeria are Delta variant, which he said had made it the dominant variant in the country.
Also speaking, the Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) Dr. Faisal Shuaib, said 2.3 percent of eligible Nigerians have been vaccinated.
