The death toll from the third wave of the deadly coronavirus infection in Edo State has hit 33, bringing to 221 the total number of persons who have died of the virus since its outbreak in March 2020.
The state government is however worried that more unvaccinated persons were dying of the virus since the beginning of the more deadly third wave a few months ago.
At a media briefing on Thursday after the daily virtual meeting of the State COVID-19 Taskforce, chaired by the state governor, Godwin Obaseki, the state COVID-19 Incident Manager, Dr. Andrew Obi announced that three more unvaccinated residents had died within 24 hours, increasing the tally from 30 announced on Wednesday, to 33 deaths.
The death toll from the third wave as of Tuesday was 26.
Giving an update on Wednesday, Obi said “For the third wave, we have lost 30 persons. But since the onset of the pandemic, we have lost 218 persons, which represent about 3.8% of total confirmed cases in Edo State”.
However, on Thursday, the figure rose to 33 raising total deaths from COVID-19 to 221.
Obi said the state also recorded 49 new COVID-19 cases from the 365 samples collected in the last 24 hours, noting that Edo has recorded a total of 889 confirmed cases since the outbreak of the third wave of the pandemic.
The Incident Manager, who decried the rise in the number of infections and deaths from the virus, reiterated the need for all residents to get vaccinated, as well as comply with non-pharmaceutical interventions to contain the pandemic, including the compulsory use of facemasks in public and regular hand-washing, among others.
Obi further urged Edo residents to leverage on the opportunity of the second phase vaccination to get full protection against the COVID-19 virus, as vaccination is the safest and most effective means to defeat the pandemic.
According to him, “Edo State, in the last 24 hours, recorded three more COVID-19-related deaths and 49 new confirmed cases, with a case positivity rate of 13.4 percent.
“We also recorded 10 recoveries, with 614 active cases that are being managed at various treatment and isolation centres across the state.”
Noting that the government has intensified the vaccination of residents across the state’s 18 local councils, Obi said Edo has inoculated over 56,724 persons since the commencement of the second phase vaccination, with 50,430 persons vaccinated with Moderna, while 6,294 others were inoculated with the AstraZeneca vaccines.
Noting that only 38 of the 889 confirmed cases have been inoculated with the COVID-19 vaccines, the medical expert charged “all residents, who have been administered with the first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine, to come out for the second dose to get full protection against the virus, while others who have not been vaccinated are encouraged to come out and get the vaccination. The vaccines are safe, free and effective.”
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