![Chikwe Ihekweazu, Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) [PHOTO: @NCDCgov]](https://i0.wp.com/media.premiumtimesng.com/wp-content/files/2020/10/EiyfqpDXsAAI7oV.jpg?fit=1080%2C810&ssl=1)
Nigeria on Wednesday recorded 655 new COVID-19 cases, again reporting less than 700 daily cases in a trend that started last Friday.
The 655 cases on Wednesday raises the total number of infections in the country to 153,842, according to the infectious disease agency, NCDC.
Since the increase in infections officially declared the second wave of the pandemic last December, Nigeria had averaged over 1,000 cases daily.
But in nearly a week, daily cases have fallen below 700 suggesting the worst phase of the viral infection may be coming to an end.
Wednesday’s figure is slightly higher than the 571 cases recorded on Tuesday, the 542 on Monday and the 521 on Sunday which is the lowest daily toll this year.
But the death toll from the disease has relatively been on the rise with 11 deaths from COVID-19 on Wednesday raising the total fatalities in the past six days to 82.
About 12 people died from the viral infection in the previous 24 hours.
Nigeria’s fatality toll is now 1,885 in total.
Specifics
The 655 new cases were reported from 21 states – Lagos (240), Ogun (88), Rivers (56), FCT (51), Kaduna (43), Kano (25), Plateau (21), Taraba (19), Edo (17), Abia (15), Delta (13), Nasarawa (11), Akwa Ibom (10), Kwara (10), Oyo (10), Kebbi (9), Borno (5), Bayelsa (4), Gombe (4), Ekiti (2), and Osun (2).
Lagos had the highest daily figure with 240 new cases, followed by Ogun and Rivers with 88 and 56 cases respectively.
Of the over 153,000 new cases, a total of 130,818 patients have recovered across the country.
Meanwhile, there are nearly 21,000 patients still receiving treatments in isolation centers.
Nigeria, with a population of about 200 million, has conducted 1,489,103 tests so far.
Health experts say low testing in Nigeria masks the severity of the outbreak, a situation considered the biggest challenge in the nation’s management of the outbreak.
Nigeria’s health minister, Osagie Ehanire, on Monday said persons at risk of contracting the COVID-19 virus are among those reluctant to accept hospital admission.
Nigeria is expecting its first batch of COVID-19 vaccines in March, Mr Ehanire said Wednesday, saying the initial target of February may not be met. Ghana on Wednesday became the first West African country to receive free COVID-19 vaccines (600,000 doses) under the COVAX arrangement of the World Health Organisation.
The four million doses Nigeria is expecting in early March is also from the COVAX arrangement.
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