Nigeria reports 1,301 more COVID-19 cases

ANKARA

A spike in coronavirus-linked fatalities continue to rise in Nigeria as the country's health authorities have confirmed 15 new deaths and 1,301 more infections in the last 24 hours.

Amid a second wave of the disease in Africa's most populous nation, debates have also arisen in the country on whether or not to be administered a vaccine against COVID-19.

The additional victims raised total confirmed deaths to 1,464 as of Tuesday, with a tally of 113,305 confirmed infections, 91,200 of which have recovered, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) said in its latest update.

Struggling to contain the surge, the West African country confirmed a record 1,867 infections on Jan. 15.

On Wednesday, the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA), gave positive signs on new ultra-cold chain storage equipment procured by the government ahead of the arrival of COVID-19 vaccines, some of which need to be stored at very low temperatures.

This comes as the need for cold storage for vaccines is set to be a major hurdle for immunization campaigns on the African continent.

The country is reportedly expecting to receive 100,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine by early February through the COVAX facility.

Just over half of respondents in an NPHCA survey on Monday said they would receive vaccines if they were currently available (50.7%), while 29.8% refused and 19.5% were unsure.