18 new COVID-19 cases confirmed

At least 18 new positive cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in the last 24 hours, the National Taskforce on COVID -19 has said.

According to the COVID-19 media updates released on Saturday, the task force confirmed that nine samples out of the 628 tested were positive.

The report indicates that 17,129 cumulative cases have been confirmed to date, with 18 new cases and 0 deaths having been noted in the last 24 hours.

The number of cases under follow-up is 3,484; the cumulative number of recoveries is 13,507, and there are 138 cumulative cases of death.

As of Friday, the task force registered 18 new cases out of the 973 samples that were tested in the laboratory.

The report indicates that 17,111 cumulative cases have been confirmed to date, 13, 507 cases recovered, 0 deaths in the last 24 hours, 138 cumulative deaths, and 3,466 cases currently under follow-up.

The total vaccine doses received to date are 1,117,270, out of which 555,840 doses have so far been administered. 463, 599 people are fully vaccinated (3,736 with two AZ vaccine doses and 414,984 with a single dose of J&J vaccine).

There is ongoing vaccination in 10 states, three administrative areas, 80 counties, and 597 health facilities.

The taskforce noted that 43,507 people need a second AZ vaccine dose, but the challenge is how to track them. It stated that contacting people via text, social media, and radio is ongoing, but the process is very slow and with low response.

The taskforce argued that it was costly to distribute vaccines to locations that were not on the WFP or UNHAS charter flights.

It noted that recruitment and training of more vaccinators were highly needed and delays in completing training due to flooding, inadequacy of experienced vaccinators, and administrative arrangements with health partners has delayed deployment to all 80 counties.