Edo records 171 cases, three deaths in third wave of coronavirus

Edo State COVID-19 Incident Manager, Dr. Andrew Obi, on Friday disclosed that the South-South state recorded 22 new cases and one more coronavirus-related death, bringing the total number of deaths recorded in Edo, in the third wave of the pandemic to three.

He made the disclosure after the daily virtual meeting of the State COVID-19 Taskforce, chaired by Governor Godwin Obaseki.

Obi said the 22 new cases raised the total number of confirmed cases in Edo to 171, noting that the state also recorded two more recoveries from the virus and collected 174 samples for testing.

He said: “Edo State, within the last 24 hours, recorded 22 new cases, two more recoveries and one new COVID-19 related death, which bring to 171, the total number of confirmed cases, with three deaths in the third wave of the pandemic.”

Obi, while reassuring of Edo government’s commitment to containing the pandemic across all the state’s communities and protecting the residents, urged Edo people to support the government by leveraging on the opportunity of the second phase vaccination to get full protection against the deadly virus.

He stated that over 95 per cent of the newly-confirmed cases were those who were never vaccinated.

“We must all come out and encourage others to get vaccinated, so as to stay healthy and alive, as well as complement the government’s efforts to totally defeat the pandemic.”

Obi also stated that Edo government was ready for the rollout of the second phase of the vaccines, stressing that the state had completed the training of healthcare providers involved in the vaccination of citizens across the 18 local councils of the state.

The incident manager urged Edo residents not to disregard the state’s preventive protocols against the spread of the deadly virus, to avoid infection.