The cumulative number of covid-19 cases in Nigeria has exceeded 100,000 marks. The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) published it on its verified website on Sunday after 1,024 recent outbreaks were recorded, generating the total number of infections to 100,087. The NCDC regrettably recorded eight more COVID-19-related deaths in the last 24 hours in the country. The agency announced the cumulative number of demises was now 1,358 and the case casualty rate was 1.5 per cent in the country.
”Abia-11, Adamawa-27, Akwa-Ibom-9, Anambra-19, Bauchi-17, Bayelsa-21, Benue-11, Borno-36, Cross River-12, Delta-52, Ebonyi-30, Edo-119, Ekiti-7, Enugu-21, FCT-107, Gombe-38, Imo -17 and Jigawa-55.
”Kaduna-55, Kano-70, Katsina-27, Kebbi-13, Kogi-2, Kwara -31, Lagos-256, Nassarawa-13, Niger -13, Ogun -35, Ondo-41, Osun -24, Oyo -54, Plateau -46, Rivers -67, Sokoto-20, Taraba-7, Yobe-8 andZamfara-5,” it stated.
Nigeria presently ranks 8th in Africa by the number of confirmed cases of the disease, behind Algeria (102,144), Libya (104,745), and Ethiopia (128,316). The public health agency said that the country’s active cases were 18,699, while only two states, Kogi and Cross River, had no active case of the infection as at Jan. 10.
Reports reveal that Nigerians have forsaken the usage of face masks, hand sanitisers, and social distancing procedures as they went about their daily businesses. A record number of Nigerians say the virus was no longer a threat while some believed there was no Covid-19 in Nigeria in the first place. The NCDC reports that the number of people who had recuperated from the destructive virus is now 80,030.
According to the centre, “There are 613 COVID-19 patients discharged across Nigeria in the last 24 hours with the total number of successfully treated cases rising to 80,030. “Our discharges today includes 253 community recoveries in Lagos State, managed in line with approved guidelines.”
The agency said 1,025,560 people had been tested for the virus since it was first detected in the country 11 months back, with 13,976 tests carried out in the past 24 hours. The public health said that the 1,024 new cases were reported in 16 states and the FCT. It added that Lagos State with 653 cases led the pack with Plateau and Benue following with 63 and 48 cases respectively, Zamfara-45, FCT-42, Rivers-27, Ondo and Adamawa-26 each.
Media reports that the Lagos State government had credited the second wave of the pandemic to the re-opening of the economy, schools, religious, and social gatherings, among others. Amongst other states with new COVID-19 cases are Kaduna-22; Edo-18; Ogun-16; Imo-12; Kano-9, Yobe-6, Ekiti-5, Jigawa-4 and Osun-2. It said that a multi-sectoral national Emergency Operations Centre (EOC), activated at Level 3, was coordinating response activities nationwide.
It should be recalled that Nigeria confirmed its first coronavirus case on Feb. 27, 2020, since the beginning of the outbreak in China in January 2020. An Italian citizen who worked in the country and returned from Milan, Italy, to Lagos, Nigeria, on Feb. 25, 2020, brought the virus to the country. He was confirmed by the Virology Laboratory of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, part of the Laboratory Network of the NCDC. In a statement, the State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, explained that other reasons for the continued increase of the dangerous virus included general laxity, a false sense of security, and non-adherence to safety guidelines by citizens at various gatherings.