COVID-19: Nigeria records 1,368 new infections, 16 deaths

By ABUJAH RACHEAL

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has recorded 1,368 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 148,296.

The NCDC disclosed this on its official Twitter handle on Tuesday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the new infections registered today doubled  the 574 cases reported as at Feb. 15.

The Agency also registered an additional 16 COVID-19 deaths, raising the total fatality in the country to 1,777 in the last 24 hours.

It stated that the 1,368 new infections were reported from 27 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The NCDC stated that Anambra State registered the highest infections for the first time since the pandemic broke out in February 2020, in the country.

It noted that of the 1,368 new cases, Anambra posted 344 cases, in spite of not recording any case the previous day, followed by Oyo state which also witnessed a rise in infections after recording 172 cases and the FCT in third position confirmed 148 infections.

The agency noted that 107 of the virus were found in Benue state, Rivers had 95, Ogun 59, Ondo 56, Ebonyi 53. Kaduna 52, Plateau 46, Kwara 36 and Enugu 30.

Other states with registered cases were Akwa Ibom 26, Osun 22, Edo 20, Abia-17, Kano 16, Borno 15, Cross River 10, Delta 8, Gombe 8, Imo 7, Ekiti 5, Sokoto 4, Jigawa 3, Bayelsa 3, Nasarawa 3 and Zamfara 3.

The public health agency stated that  at least 1,474 people had recovered and been discharged from isolation centres across the country in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of people who had been discharged after recovery to 124,483.

It noted that the discharged recorded on Tuesday included 762 community recoveries in Anambra State, 132 in Plateau State and 126 in FCT.

The NCDC stated that this included data reported from Enugu State over the last two days and a backlog of deaths reported from Abia State.

It said that a multi-sectoral national Emergency Operations Centre (EOC), activated at Level 3, is coordinating response activities nationwide.

The Nigeria’s public health institute said that there were now 22,036 active cases across the country in the last 24 hours.

NAN recalls that the country has tested 1,441,013 people since the first confirmed case relating to the COVID-19 pandemic was announced on Feb. 27, 2020. (NAN)