Edo State has continued to record an increase in the number of deaths of persons who have not been inoculated with the COVID-19 vaccines.

The state has confirmed three more COVID-19-re­lated deaths, bringing the total number of fatalities in the third wave of the pandemic in the state to 33.

The State COVID-19 Incident Manager, Dr. Andrew Obi, disclosed this after the daily virtual meeting of the State COVID-19 Taskforce, chaired by the State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki.

He said the state also recorded 49 new COVID-19 cases from the 365 samples collected in the last 24 hours, noting that Edo has recorded a total of 889 confirmed cases since the outbreak of the third wave of the pandemic.

The Incident Manager, who decried the rise in the number of infections and deaths from the virus, reiterated the need for all residents to get vaccinated, as well as comply with non-pharmaceutical interventions to contain the pandemic, including the compulsory use of face masks in the public and regular hand washing, among others.

Obi further urged Edo citizens to leverage the opportunity of the second phase vaccination to get full protection against the COVID-19 virus, as vaccination is the safest and most effective means to defeat the pandemic.

According to him, “Edo State, in the last 24 hours, recorded three more COVID-19-related deaths and 49 new confirmed cases, with a case positivity rate of 13.4 per cent.

“We also recorded 10 recoveries, with 614 actives cases that are being managed at various treatment and isolation centres across the state.”

Noting that the government has intensified the vaccination of residents across the state’s 18 local councils, Obi said Edo has inoculated over 56,724 persons since the commencement of the second phase vaccination, with 50,430 persons vaccinated with Moderna, while 6,294 others were inoculated with the AstraZeneca vaccines.

Noting that only 38 of the 889 confirmed cases have been inoculated with the COVID-19 vaccines, the medical expert charged “all residents, who have been administered with the first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine, to come out for the second dose to get full protection against the virus, while others who have not been vaccinated are encouraged to come out and get the vaccination. The vaccines are safe, free and effective.”