Coronavirus: Nigeria confirms 20 new cases, total now 131

The Nigeria government has announced 20 new cases of Coronavirus (COVID-19) in the country.

The new cases were announced in three states – Lagos, Kaduna and Oyo – and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

This brings the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 131.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) said the breakdown of new cases were 13 in Lagos, four in FCT, two in Kaduna and one in Oyo State.

The Oyo State case is believed to be Governor Seyi Makinde.

Although the NCDC has a policy of not identifying patients who test positive, PREMIUM TIMES reported how Mr Makinde earlier on Monday announced he had tested positive to the virus.

The NCDC provided information on the new cases on its official Twitter handle, saying “as at 09:00 pm 30th March there are 131 confirmed cases of #COVID19 reported in Nigeria with 2 deaths.”

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The second death had earlier been reported by the health minister, Osagie Ehanire, on Monday.

Neither Mr Ehanire nor the NCDC provided more details of the death.

Break down

The break down of cases by states shows that Lagos remains the epicentre for the disease in the country.

Data from NCDC show that Lagos State leads with 81 cases, followed by 25 in Abuja, Ogun – 3, Kaduna – 3, Oyo – 8, Edo – 2, Bauchi – 2, Enugu – 2, and Osun – 2. Ekiti, Rivers and Benue states have one case of the infection each.

Restrictions

With the increasing number of confirmed cases, President Muhammadu Buhari addressed Nigerians for the first time on the COVID-19 pandemic on Sunday.

He listed, among others, the ban of movement in Lagos, Ogun, and Abuja from Monday night to prevent the spread of the disease.

After Mr Buhari’s speech, the health minister said the government will thoroughly intensify contact tracing to identify those who might have been exposed to COVID-19 from a positive patient.

Most of the confirmed cases in Nigeria are persons who have visited countries with a high burden of the disease or those who had contact with such returnees.

Mr Ehanire reiterated that the government will use this containment period to identify, trace and isolate all individuals that have come into contact with confirmed cases.

We will ensure the treatment of confirmed cases while restricting further spread to other states, he said.