Coronavirus Infections in Nigeria exceed 38,000

Over 500 new coronavirus cases in Nigeria have raised the nationwide tally to 38,344, authorities announced on Wednesday.

According to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), 543 more COVID-19 cases and eight fatalities were recorded in the country on Wednesday.

The new figure of infections shows a slight decrease from the 576 cases reported on Tuesday.

Nigeria has averaged over 500 cases per day in almost two weeks

The death toll in the country rose to 813 while a total of 15,815 patients have recovered from the virus.

There are 21,716 active case in Nigeria.

The NCDC said the new cases were reported in 15 states including “Lagos-180 FCT-86 Kaduna-56 Edo-47 Ondo-37 Kwara-35 Ogun-19 Rivers-19 Kano-17 Ebonyi-16 Enugu-16 Delta-7 Bayelsa-4 Bauchi-3 Abia-1.”

About 247, 825 people have been tested for the virus in a country of over 200 million people.

Lagos remains the epicenter of the disease with a total tally of 13,806 infections and 177 deaths. Almost 2, 000 patients have been discharged after treatment.

Nigeria’s commercial nerve is followed by the nation’s capital, Abuja, with 3, 297 infections, and 40 deaths. Oyo has since displaced Kano to become the third state with the largest caseload with 2, 219, and 20 deaths.

Zamfara reported a single case on Tuesday after going more than 50 days without an infection.

Health experts believe there is gross undercount of positive cases in Nigeria, questioning the government’s ability to increase its testing capacity especially after new symptoms of loss of senses of smell and taste emerged.

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 will elapse on July 28, yet the country is yet to cover 20 per cent of the two million.