Coronavirus: Nigeria records nine additional deaths, 1,398 new infections

On Wednesday, nine people died from coronavirus in Nigeria taking the death toll to 1,382 in total.

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

With the recent surge in coronavirus cases feeding through into fatalities, Nigeria has been having a consistent spike in deaths from the disease.

On Tuesday, Nigeria logged one of its deadliest daily fatality toll with 12 people dying from the virus.

In the past 26 days, there have been 170 fatalities as a result of COVID-19 complications in Nigeria.

Health authorities attributed the rising death toll to 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 last week, said caregivers are holding on to suspected cases for too long before presenting them for treatment.

The second wave of the coronavirus has also continued to sweep across Nigeria with 1,398 new infections recorded in 23 states across the country on Wednesday.

Wednesday’s figure pushed the total number of infections in the country to 103,999.

One in every six persons (16 per cent) tested for COVID-19 in Nigeria in the past two weeks, tested positive.

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 two months ago to over 20,000 due to a rise in new infections.

Of the over 103,000 cases so far, 82,555 patients have been discharged from hospitals after treatment.

Specifics

The 1,398 new cases were reported from 23 states. – Lagos (542), FCT (131), Oyo (120), Rivers (113), Plateau (111), Kaduna (71), Kwara (71), Akwa Ibom (34), Sokoto (31), Benue (28), Ogun (27), Kano (26), Kebbi (17), Osun (12), Nasarawa (11), Delta (10), Gombe (10), Bayelsa (9), Borno (9), Edo (8), Ekiti (3), Jigawa (2), and Katsina (2).

Lagos led with 542 new cases on Wednesday, nearly half of the daily total. The commercial city is Nigeria’s coronavirus epicentre with a total of over 36,000 confirmed cases and more than 255 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.

The Nigerian government has said it is reviewing tbe reopening of schools which was initially slated for January 17 due to the spike in coronavirus infections.

The government also said it is expecting to start receiving vaccines for the disease by the end of the month.

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