Nigerians studying in the UK can look to resuming school as the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson picks March 8 for the reopening of schools in fresh plans rolled out on Wednesday to restore normalcy.
The Minister is banking on the success of vaccination in cutting down Covid-19 infection rates, severity and deaths among the country’s population.
The older population will be prioritised as the government evaluates the impact of the vaccine in driving down deaths by February 25, Johnson said during a press conference.
“The problem is not that schools are unsafe. The problem is by definition schools bring many households together and that contributes to the spread of the virus,” the PM said.
Over 25,308 fresh cases and 1,224 deaths have been recorded in the last 24 hours (Wednesday) as the second wave features a new variant that has travelled quickly, and as far as Nigeria.
The B.1.1.7 first detected in the UK last September has now been confirmed in Nigeria, as four cases of the highly infectious strain was imported by Nigerians returning from abroad and one local resident.
“When they were tested, the strain was found in them within a week after returning to Nigeria. This was reported to us through the international health regulation,” Chikwe Ihekweazu, director-general, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, said on Monday.
With the UK being one of the most visited destinations of Nigerians, efforts to contain the spike in infection is expected to have an impact on the importation of the virus.
Other highly visited countries such as the United States have restricted those with positive Covid-19 results from heading into the country.
Nigeria’s effort to contain is still largely based on non-pharmaceutical measures as vaccine expectations are yet to hatch results.
Even when they do, very few Nigerians will be vaccinated by the end of 2021 based on the lean projection of volume of doses from vaccines sources.
