Coronavirus: Nigeria records lowest figure in nearly two months

Nigeria on Monday recorded 288 coronavirus infections, the lowest number since June 8.

The latest figure brings the total number of infections in the country to 44, 129, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

Monday’s figure is lower than those of the past four days, showing a consistent decline in the country’s epidemiological curve.

Nigeria recorded 304, 386, 462, and 481 daily cases before Monday’s lower figure.

But despite the continued decline in the daily figure of confirmed coronavirus infections in Nigeria, there has been a troubling uptick in mystery cases that health experts believe could upset plans of a full opening of public activities across the country.

According to the NCDC COVID-19 situation report for the month of August, over 70 per cent (31, 237) of confirmed cases are from unknown sources that contact tracers could not tie back to likely community sources — such as spouses, co-workers, or neighbours.

They cannot also be traced to persons with travel history, putting a strain on efforts towards identifying specific individuals with exposure risks.

The NCDC in its daily update of the infection on its Twitter handle @NCDCgov said eight fatalities were recorded from the virus on Monday pushing the total number of confirmed deaths from the virus to 896.

According to the NCDC, out of a total 44, 129 infected persons so far, 20,663 have recovered and have been discharged after treatment in the country’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

There are still over 22, 000 active cases in Nigeria.

The new cases, according to the NCDC, were found in the following 15 states: Lagos-88 Kwara-33 Osun-27 FCT-25 Enugu-25 Abia-20 Kaduna-17 Plateau-13 Rivers-13 Delta-10 Gombe-8 Ogun-4 Oyo-3 Katsina-1 Bauchi-1.

Despite the uptick of community transmission, Nigeria has lagged in testing people who showed symptoms of the disease.

On April 28, the Nigerian government announced its target of testing at least two million people within the next three months.

The ambitious 90 days’ target elapsed a few days ago, but Nigeria failed to cover at least 30 per cent of the two million.

Nigeria still conducts only about 900 to 1,400 tests per day across 26 molecular laboratories in the country, a source confirmed to PREMIUM TIMES.

Nigeria has tested only about 290, 000 of its 200 million population.