MOGADISHU (Halbeeg News) – Somali government has confirmed 109 new positive Covid-19 cases in the last 48 hours.
The total number of confirmed cases in the country stands at 9,437 cases after 109 of 968 samples tested positive, according to the Health ministry.
In its daily report, the ministry said the disease killed six people in the last 48 hours, bringing the total number of those who succumbed to the virus in the country to 385.
The country confirmed 48 recoveries making the number of who recovered from the disease 4,306.
The new cases come amid the country launched COVID-19 vaccinations.
The Horn of Africa nation, which has recently experienced a surge of cases, received its first shipment of 300,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine through the international COVAX intiative to ensure that low- and middle-income countries receive vaccines.
This is the first batch out of 1.2 million doses Somalia will receive to vaccinate 600,000 frontline workers and members of other vulnerable groups, said the World Health Organization. The WHO facilitates COVAX, designed to obtain and equitably distribute COVID-19 vaccines globally.
Somalia’s first vaccinations happened in a small ceremony at the Martini hospital in the capital Mogadishu where Health Minister Fawziya Abikar Nur urged the public to embrace the vaccines to stem infections in the country of 15 million people and one of the continent’s weakest health systems.
Somalia also announced it has made plans to get enough vaccine from COVAX to vaccinate at least 20% of its population.
This month, the Somali government announced suspension on schools and universities for two weeks due to a surge in COVID-19 infections. The government also banned public gatherings and demonstrations in the country.
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