Nigeria Records 636 New COVID-19 Cases, More Deaths

Nigeria on Friday confirmed 636 new cases of COVID-19 in various parts of the country, said the Federal Government agency responsible for the control of disease outbreaks.

Giving an update on the outbreak of the disease in the country, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) disclosed that 12 more fatalities were recorded yesterday.

Of the cases, Lagos recorded the highest number of infections – 291 – days after authorities in the state activated 10 COVID-19 oxygen treatment and sample collection centres, as well as 20 local government area (LGA) based sample collection sites.

Coming after the nation’s commercial capital was Rivers where 117 new infections were reported while Taraba and Akwa Ibom had 58 and 54 fresh infections respectively.

Other states are Kwara – 28, Ekiti – 14, Ogun – 14, FCT – 13, Oyo – 11, Edo – nine, Osun – six, Bayelsa – five, Delta – four, Gombe – four, Abia – three, Plateau – three, and Sokoto – one.

No Lockdown

Data from the NCDC revealed that as of Friday, Nigeria has confirmed a total of 181,297 cases from the 2,589,130 samples tested so far.

Of the confirmed cases – in the 36 states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), 166,709 people have been discharged and 2,211 deaths recorded.

As Nigeria’s confirmed cases continue to rise, authorities have expresses concerns and put measures in place to tackle the third wave of the pandemic.

These include the reintroduction of the initially relaxed protocols such as the restriction of crowds in places of worship and social gatherings, as well as maintaining social distancing and mandatory use of face masks in public places.

Despite its worry, the Federal Government has ruled out the possibility of another lockdown.

Apart from the move by the authorities, the fight against COVID-19 has continued to receive a boost in Nigeria with the delivery of 177,600 doses of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine.

The single-shot J&J vaccine – received on Thursday – was acquired through the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT), with support from Afrexim bank.

Nigeria has procured nearly 40 million doses of the vaccine through AVAT, the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, had disclosed at a press briefing.