Nigeria has recorded its lowest daily figure of new coronavirus infections in about six months with the 240 new cases reported on Sunday, according to the country’s health authorities.
The figure, which indicated a marginal decrease from the 341 new cases recorded on Saturday, brings the total number of infections in the country to 155,657, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (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 the past one week, daily cases have fallen below 700 suggesting the worst phase of the viral infection may have passed.
With the low number of new daily cases recorded in the past week, Nigeria’s response effort against the disease may have started paying off, according to the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) country representative, Walter Mulomo.
Deaths also decline
With the reduction in infections, the death toll has also been on the decline.
Nigeria on Sunday recorded two deaths, the lowest daily fatality in over six months.
The figure is lower than three deaths recorded in the previous 24-hour cycle as the lowest daily death tally since the second wave started last December.
The total deaths from COVID-19 in Nigeria is now 1,907.
But health experts believe the official data under-reports both infections and deaths because of the country’s limited testing capacity.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, has so far conducted test figures less than one per cent of the country’s 200 million population.
Recoveries
More than two-thirds of the over 155,000 people infected by COVID-19 in Nigeria have recovered after treatment.
The figure indicates the level of success the country’s health professionals have recorded in containing the virus.
According to NCDC data published Sunday night, a total of 133,768 have recovered after treatment.
Although people who recover from a viral infection often develop immunity against the same disease, it remains unclear whether this is the case with COVID-19 infection.
Meanwhile, over 20,000 infections are still active in the country.
Specific
The 240 new cases were reported from 13 states – Anambra (85), Lagos (82), Osun (17), Ogun (10), Kwara (9), FCT (8), Kano (7), Abia (6), Ekiti(5), Borno (4), Edo (2), Bayelsa (2) Kaduna (2) and Rivers (1).
Anambra had the highest toll in Sunday’s tally with 85 new cases followed by Lagos, the country’s epicentre of the disease, with 82 new cases.
Nigeria has conducted 1,489,103 tests so far, less than one per cent of the two million inhabitants of Africa’s most populous nation.
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