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Nigeria on Saturday reported eight additional deaths from COVID-19 as the spike in new cases continues to feed through into fatalities.
The total death tally from COVID-19 in Nigeria rose to 1,302 with the eight new deaths, the country’s infectious disease outfit, NCDC, announced late Saturday.
In the past 15 days, there have been 90 recorded deaths from the coronavirus.
The NCDC in an update on its microsite Saturday said 576 new cases were discovered in 15 states across the country.
The total coronavirus Infections in the country has now increased to 89, 163 with the latest figure.
Since early December 2020, there has been a spike in coronavirus cases in Nigeria.
Health experts believe the lowering of guard on safety and the weak enforcement of protocols especially in the country’s major airports in Abuja and Lagos could be responsible for the development, warning that the situation could get worse if citizens keep violating safety protocols.
Active cases in the country rose sharply from about 3,000 some weeks ago to over 11,000 due to a rise in new infections.
Of the over 89,000 cases so far, 74,789 patients have been discharged from hospitals after treatment.
Specifics
The 576 new cases were reported from 15 states – Lagos (277), FCT (90), Oyo (51), Nasarawa (49), Sokoto (23), Anambra (14), Bauchi (11), Imo (11), Kano (11), Edo (10), Plateau (10), Ogun (9), Osun (5), Jigawa (3), and Rivers (2).
Lagos, again led with 277 new cases followed by the FCT with 90 new infections on Saturday; together having more than half of the daily total.
With the country into the second wave of the pandemic, federal authorities have ordered the reopening of all isolation and treatment centres in the country.
The Nigerian government has also reintroduced new restrictions to check the spread of the virus, including closure of bars and nightclubs and limiting the number of people allowed in a public gathering.
According to the NCDC, the failure of Nigerians to comply with the COVID-19 safety protocols during the festive period could lead to more spread of the disease.
So far, Nigeria has conducted over 950,000 COVID-19 tests.
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