Ethiopia Records 172 New Covid Cases as Vaccine Shots Offered Exceed 8mln

ADDIS ABABA – Ethiopia has registered 172 new novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) infections on Friday, as doses of Covid vaccine offered to the public surpassef 8 million.

In its daily Covid-19 report, the ministry of Health said the country tested a total of 6, 235 people in the past twenty four hours to confirm the latest positive cases.

A further 13 Coronavirus-related deaths and 215 recoveries were also recorded in the reported period, pushing the death toll to 6,727 and recoveries count to 348, 088.

There are now 229 seriously sick patients receiving treatment in medical centers, the report claims. The patients are among 16, 241 active cases in the country.

Despite recording more recovery than new cases, health officials are still advising the public to observe Covid-19 protocols put in place to tackle the pandemic including wearing face masks.

They are doing so as the country pushes ahead with their vaccination campaign which today records a new milestone.

Today’s report shows that the number of Covid-19 vaccine doses administered to the public in Ethiopia has surpassed the eight million mark, after offering more than 526, 000 doses in the past 24-hours.

The East African nation started providing the vaccine on March 13, 2021. Since then, more than 6.57 million Ethiopians have been fully inoculated against the Covid-19.

The ongoing immunization campaign involves Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca, and Sinopharm, and targets to vaccinate about 22 million people by January.