COVID-19: Nigeria records 1,585 new cases in 26 states

Nigeria recorded 1,585 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday as the second wave of the virus continues to spread in the country.

The new cases, one of the highest daily figures, were reported from 26 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

This week, Nigeria has been smashing previous records of highest daily tallies to indicate how swift the officially declared second wave of COVID-19 is spreading.

On Monday, Nigeria recorded 1,204 new cases as the country’s highest daily figure, a record smashed by the 1,354 infections reported from 21 states on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, the country recorded yet another highest daily tally ever with 1,664 cases.

The 1,585 new cases on Saturday pushed the total number of infections since the start of the pandemic in the country to 99,063.

This is according to the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

In Africa, Nigeria is the 9th most affected country by the coronavirus after South Africa, Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia, Ethiopia, Libya, Kenya and Algeria.

The federal government recently warned that a significant increase in coronavirus infections in Nigeria appears imminent this January due to continued violation of safety protocols during the Christmas period.

Active cases in the country rose sharply from about 3,000 about a month ago to over 17,000 due to a rise in new infections.

Of the over 99,000 cases so far, 79, 417 patients have been discharged from hospitals after treatment.

Deaths

More people are dying from the disease as infections continue to spread.

Eight people died from the virus on Saturday, taking the death toll to 1,350.

Nigeria recorded one of its highest coronavirus-related deaths on Friday, with 12 people dying from the virus.

In the past 22 days, there have been 138 fatalities as a result of COVID-19 complications in Nigeria.

The government has blamed the increasing deaths on late referral of COVID-19 patients to treatment centres.

The Minister of State for Health, Olorunnimbe Mamora, speaking at the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 briefing on Tuesday said caregivers are holding on to suspected cases for too long before presenting them for treatment.

Specifics

The 1,585 new cases were reported from 26 states – Lagos (573), FCT (182), Plateau (162), Gombe (81), Oyo (75), Rivers (68), Sokoto (58), Ondo (55), Ogun (42), Nasarawa (40), Akwa Ibom (36), Edo (31), Kaduna (27), Anambra (22), Delta (19), Kano (17), Osun (17), Ebonyi (16), Katsina (14), Niger (14), Bayelsa (9), EKiti (8), Borno (7), Jigawa (5), Abia (4), and Bauchi (3).

Lagos led with 573 new cases on Saturday. The commercial city is Nigeria’s coronavirus epicenter with a total of over 35,000 confirmed cases and about 252 deaths.

The Minister of State for Health, Mr Mamora, warned Nigerians against complacency in containing the COVID-19 pandemic as the much awaited vaccines may not arrive the country as soon as expected.

So far, Nigeria has conducted over a million COVID-19 tests.