Nigeria records 601 new infections as WHO says children aged 12 and over should wear masks

Chidi Samuel| Nigeria on Saturday confirmed 601 new cases of the novel coronavirus, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), has said.

Lagos, the country’s COVID-19 epicentre, for the first time in weeks, recorded unusual high number of infections -404, followed by the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) with -37 and Oyo with -19.

Other states with new cases include, Ondo-14, Abia-13, Enugu-13, Kaduna-13, Edo-12, Kano-12, Kwara-11, Ebonyi-10, Nasarawa-7, Ogun-6, Osun-5, Delta-5, Niger-5, Plateau-4, Bayelsa-4, Katsina-3, Ekiti-2, and Imo-2.

According to the health agency, the country’s death toll from the pandemic stands at 997, with 38,767 recoveries from the 51,905 confirmed cases.

-Children aged 12 and over should wear masks, says WHO

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization has recommended that children aged 12 and over now use masks in the same situations as adults, as the use of face coverings helps stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

The health agency made the recommendation in a COVID-19 guidance document it published via its website on Friday.

It said children aged five years and under should not be required to wear masks, while children aged 6-11 should only wear masks under certain conditions, including the presence of widespread transmission in the area where the child resides and the child’s ability to safely and appropriately use a mask.

However, children aged 12 and over are required to wear a mask under the same conditions as adults, “in particular when they cannot guarantee at least a 1-metre distance from others and there is widespread transmission in the area.”

The WHO has said the world should be able to rein in the coronavirus pandemic in less than two years, even as the world’s death toll hit 800,000 and the number of confirmed cases continues to rise.

“We have a disadvantage of globalisation, closeness, connectedness, but an advantage of better technology, so we hope to finish this pandemic before less than two years,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters on Friday.

Cover Pix: An Iraqi family wearing protective masks walk at the departure hall of Baghdad international airport following its reopening on July 23, 2020, after a closure forced by the coronavirus pandemic restrictions aimed at preventing the spread of the deadly COVID-19 illness in Iraq. AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP

With agency report