At least 34 students and of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Akoka have contracted the deadly coronavirus.
A source at the school said five staff have also been confirmed to have the disease.
A senior management staff said the initial figure was 15 staff.
According to the source, after the medical centre drew attention of the university management to the third wave, another 19 students and two workers were infected.
The source said that the university’s management through the medical centre is investigating whether the disease was brought into the campus by a staff or student.
Management of the school have begun contact tracing of staff and students who came in contact with those infected.
“Initial case was discovered on students who showed signs of flu-like symptoms. Later, some staff showed same symptoms. Following these symptoms by staff and students, the medical centre alerted the management and thorough analysis were carried out and the results came out positive. From there the figures rose to more students and staff infected.
The school authorities have extended by 24 hours directive to students to evacuate their halls of residence. The Senate had on Wednesday asked students to evacuate their hostels by 12 noon yesterday.
A statement by the Dean, Students Affairs, said the decision to extend the deadline was to ease the burden of transportation which some students faced on Wednesday while leaving for home.
Meanwhile, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has reported the loss of a life in the cause of COVID-19 vaccination.
The agency ascribed the death to wrong drug combination saying the vaccinee did not disclose his health condition to health workers that administered the vaccine.
This camd as the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH), announced the death of Dr. Odii Stanley, senior registrar in the Department of Anaesthesiology, from COVID-19 complications.
NAFDAC Director General, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, at a press conference in Abuja, yesterday, who announced the passage of a patient after taking COVID-19 jab, said the agency had approved three new COVID-19 vaccines for use in Nigeria.
“The case was that the vaccinee had dental problem and was on diclofenac medication. Diclofenac is non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, that could cause blood clotting when combined with COVID-19 vaccine. Unfortunately, the person passed away after taking the vaccine.”
She demanded that there should be a brief dialogue between a potential vaccinee and health worker before COVID-19 vaccines are administered.
“The essence of the brief dialogue is to find out the health status of the person taking the vaccine, to know if he or she is on a particular drug that could work contrary to the content of the vaccine. If it shows red flag, then the person is advised to temporarily drop the plan. We have discovered that some people who may have COVID-19 or recently treated the disease need to wait for one month or more before they take can the vaccine.”
She dismissed the fear that AstraZeneca vaccine is harmful to the body even as she encouraged Nigerians to submit themselves to the vaccination as a strong measure against Coronavirus, insisting that its benefit outweigh the risk.
The NAFDAC boss said the new approved vaccines are two from Korean – AstraZeneca Korea and Moderna vaccines, and one Russian, Sputnik vaccine, which was granted conditional approval by NAFDAC vaccine committee.
Adeyeye said the approval was granted after a thorough review of the vaccines and the confirmation that they are safe for use and that the benefits outweighs its risk. The new additions join the recently approved Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccine which was okayed earlier this year by the regulatory agency.
She confirmed that NAFDAC vaccine committee carefully reviewed the vaccines despite the fact they were approved by stringent regulatory conditions and had received World Health Organisation (WHO) Emergency Use Listing (EUL).
Adeyeye confirmed that a COVID-19 vaccine that had gone through approval from either of these two sources, had undoubtedly, gone through quality, safety and efficacy evaluation which is a pre-requisite for acceptance by COVAX Facility.
“Most regulatory agencies across the world use the mechanism to expedite their own regulatory approval to import and administer COVID-19 vaccines. Besides, NAFDAC spent at least 15 days to thoroughly examine the dossier or submission package of the vaccines to ensure that the benefits far outweigh the risks and any side effects are well noted for monitoring after vaccination by respective NAFDAC and Primary Health Officers.”
She said about four million people have received the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines across the country, but through the Med Safety App, the country had recorded over 4,500 adverse effects following immunisation.
“We are still compiling the cases because some people could not use the digital tool. Some reported theirs on yellow paper. But in total, the reported adverse case reaction are not up to 10, 000, out of the four million immunisation given. Undoubtedly, there are serious adverse events following immunisation. But we have less than five per cent of such cases. It’s always advised that vaccinees stay around the area of the vaccination for 45 minutes so he or she can be monitored.”