Coronavirus: Kano records 12 new cases as Nigeria’s total rises to 407

Nigeria’s tally of confirmed COVID-19 cases rose to 407 on Wednesday evening as 34 new cases were announced by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.

The health agency in a tweet said the new cases were reported in five states: Lagos, Kano, Katsina, Delta and Niger.

The breakdown of the new cases showed that Lagos has 18 cases, followed closely by Kano with 12, Katsina 2, while Niger and Delta have one apiece.

Lagos remains the epicentre for the outbreak in Nigeria, while confirmed cases in Kano have been on the rise since the first confirmed case was announced on Sunday.

The figures released Wednesday evening is the highest daily figure reported by the health agency since the beginning of the outbreak in Nigeria in February.

The NCDC said as at 11:20 p.m. on Wednesday, there were 407 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Nigeria. A total of 128 patients have recovered and have been discharged while 12 people have died.

“Out of the total confirmed cases, 267 are still active, 128 have been discharged with 12 deaths reported,” the agency said.

The new death was reported in Lagos, adding to the 11 deaths earlier reported.

As of the time of reporting, 19 states and the FCT have confirmed at least a case of the virus in Nigeria.

Lagos State has now reported 232 cases, followed by FCT – 58, Osun – 20, Kano – 16, Edo – 15, Oyo – 11, Ogun – 9, Katsina – 7, Bauchi, Kaduna and Akwa Ibom – 6, Kwara and Delta – 4, while Ondo has 3 cases. Enugu, Niger, Ekiti, and Rivers have two cases each, while Benue, and Anambra have recorded one each.

More testing

Nigerians have been advised to expect more cases as contact tracing of people who might have been exposed to the virus has been intensified by the government.

NCDC boss, Chikwe Ihekweazu, at the Presidential Task Force briefing on Wednesday said Nigeria has also improved its testing capacity and now has the capacity of testing 3000 per day although that capacity is not being fully utilised.

Chikwe Ihekweazu, CEO, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.

He said the NCDC is focused on Lagos and the FCT because of the high number of cases in both states

“We have to respect the people that have the virus, it could be any of us, none of us are immune to it as it is a new disease because it could very easily be us.

“By the end of today, we will be publishing a diagnostic strategy, so that everybody will be aware of where we are, where we are going, short term and long term,” he said .

Meanwhile, the Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, condemned stigmatisation of people.

File photo of the Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, at a press briefing on the outbreak of Coronavirus in Nigeria

“The population should not drive stigma by wanting to know where those people live so that you can avoid the area. You should take your own measures and not contribute to using that as an excuse to create stigma.

“I want to speak against stigmatisation, we don’t want people feeling that this is something so terrible that you should be ashamed of,” he said.