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General News of Thursday, 12 August 2021

Source: www.thisdaylive.com

Delta Variant: FG not considering lockdown - Minister

Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire

The Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, has ruled out the possibility of another lockdown despite the presence of the Delta variant of coronavirus in the country.

The minister, who spoke Thursday at the weekly ministerial press briefing organized by the Presidential Communications Team at the State House, Abuja, also disclosed that apart from the vaccines sourced free of charge, Nigeria has paid for about 30 million doses of Johnson & Johnson specification.

He stressed that the number of Delta variant cases recorded in the country will not require any lockdown as was the case in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic last year.

According to him, 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 remainder will come in batches.

He assured Nigerians that the majority of vaccines used in the country will be bought by government rather than depend on the ones given to it by other countries.