UPDATED: Nigeria reports highest coronavirus daily figure

Nigeria has announced its highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases yet, with the figure for Tuesday at 195.

The announcement was made by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) via Twitter early Wednesday.

The figure brings the total tally for the country to 1532, the agency said.

The total number of those discharged is 255 and deaths 44.

Lagos leads in the newly reported cases with 80, followed by Kano with 38.

The list of new cases across states is as follows:

80-Lagos
38-Kano
15-Ogun
15-Bauchi
11-Borno
10-Gombe
9-Sokoto
5-Edo
5-Jigawa
2-Zamfara
1-Rivers
1-Enugu
1-Delta
1-FCT
1-Nasarawa

The Pattern

With the latest update, Lagos still remains the epicentre for the disease in the country.

Also, new cases were reported in Kano after about six days due to the suspension of testing activities in the state.

The Director General of NCDC, Chikwe Ihekweazu, on Tuesday afternoon said in a tweet that the laboratory in Kano State has resumed operation.

Testing was discontinued in Kano State last week. The health minister, Osagie Ehanire, on Thursday said the Kano centre was temporarily closed because some staff of the laboratory were infected with COVID-19 and the centre ran short of some testing reagents.

However, Mr Ihekweazu said Tuesday afternoon that the COVID-19 laboratory at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital “is back up and testing has resumed.”

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He said a second laboratory at Bayero University Kano will be activated on Wednesday.

Also, Nasarawa State recorded its first case of COVID-19 since the beginning of the outbreak in February.

The NCDC said as of 12:00 a.m. April 28, there were 1,532 confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported in Nigeria. Of these, 255 infected people have recovered and have been discharged and 44 deaths have been recorded in 33 states and the FCT.

A breakdown of all the cases shows that Lagos State has so far reported 844 cases, followed by FCT – 158, Kano – 115, Borno – 53, Gombe – 46, Ogun – 50, Osun – 34, Katsina – 30, Edo – 30, Bauchi – 29, Oyo – 21,Sokoto – 19, Kaduna – 15, Akwa Ibom – 12, Kwara – 11, Ekiti, Taraba and Ondo – 8, Delta and Rivers – 7, Enugu – 3, Jigawa – 7, Niger – 2, Abia – 2, and Zamfara – 4. Benue, Anambra, Adamawa, Plateau, Bayelsa, Ebonyi, Kebbi, Nasarawa and Imo have one case each.

More testing

Mr Ihekweazu said NCDC has also been working to expand the testing capacity in the country as Nigerians have been criticising the government for not testing enough. It is believed that the figures released by the agency does not reflect the true state of infections in the country.

Mr Ihekweazu said at the daily Presidential Task Force (PTF) briefing on Tuesday that the Nigerian government has set a target of testing two million people in the next three months.

Mr Ihekweazu said the move became necessary as the country is lagging behind in terms of testing.

“Our goal remains to reduce transmission, and we urge the public to avoid unessential travel,” he said.