COVID-19: Nigeria records seven more deaths, 838 new infections
As Nigeria officially confirmed entering the second wave of COVID-19, more people are dying from the virus and health experts are calling for a strong government response.
The country has recorded 1,254 deaths as of Sunday after seven more people succumbed to the disease in the previous 24 hours, according to the country’s infectious disease outfit, NCDC.
In the past nine days, there have been 42 recorded deaths from the coronavirus.
The NCDC in an update on its microsite Sunday night said 838 new cases were found in 16 states over the previous 24 hours.
With the latest figure, the country’s total infections is now 84,414.
Since early December, there has been a spike in coronavirus cases in Nigeria.
Health experts believe the lowering of guard on safety and the weak enforcement of protocols especially in the country’s major airports in Abuja and Lagos could be responsible for the development, warning that the situation could get worse if citizens keep violating safety protocols.
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Active cases in the country rose sharply from about 3,000 some weeks ago to over 11,000 due to a rise in new infections.
Of the over 84,000 cases so far, 71, 034 patients have been discharged from hospitals after treatment.
The 838 new cases were reported from 16 states – FCT (297), Lagos (253), Plateau (82), Kaduna (57), Katsina (32), Nasarawa (31), Kano (25), Gombe (24), Oyo (8), Rivers (8), Zamfara (7), Ogun (4), Bauchi (4), Edo (4), Anambra (1) and Sokoto (1).
Again, Abuja and Lagos led with 297 and 253 new cases respectively on Sunday – more than half of the daily total.
With the country into the second wave of the pandemic, federal authorities have ordered the reopening of all isolation and treatment centres in the country.
The Nigerian government has also reintroduced new restrictions to check the spread of the virus, including closure of bars and nightclubs and limiting the number of people allowed in a public gathering.
Nigerian authorities say they are expecting to receive in January one of the vaccines developed globally for COVID-19 but evidence on the ground at the country’s National Strategic Cold Store suggest an exaggeration of the claims.
So far, Nigeria has tested over 900, 000 of its 200 million people.
