Nigeria recorded 1,585 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday as the second wave of the virus continues to spread in the country.
The new cases, one of the highest daily figures, were reported from 26 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Nigeria Centre for Disease Control announced via its Twitter page that the cases were reported from 26 states – Lagos (573), FCT (182), Plateau (162), Gombe (81), Oyo (75), Rivers (68), Sokoto (58), Ondo (55), Ogun (42), Nasarawa (40), Akwa Ibom (36), Edo (31), Kaduna (27), Anambra (22), Delta (19), Kano (17), Osun (17), Ebonyi (16), Katsina (14), Niger (14), Bayelsa (9), EKiti (8), Borno (7), Jigawa (5), Abia (4), and Bauchi (3).
Lagos led with 573 new cases on Saturday. The commercial city is Nigeria’s coronavirus epicenter with a total of over 35,000 confirmed cases and about 252 deaths.
1585 new cases of #COVID19Nigeria;
Lagos-573
FCT-182
Plateau-162
Gombe-81
Oyo-75
Rivers-68
Sokoto-58
Ondo-55
Ogun-42
Nasarawa-40
Akwa Ibom-36
Edo-31
Kaduna-27
Anambra-22
Delta-19
Kano-17
Osun-17
Ebonyi-16
Katsina-14
Niger-14
Bayelsa-9
EKiti-8
Borno-7
Jigawa-5
Abia-4
Bauchi-3 pic.twitter.com/HFBLIBezZu— NCDC (@NCDCgov) January 9, 2021
The 1,585 new cases on Saturday pushed the total number of infections since the start of the pandemic in the country to 99,063.
Of the over 99,000 cases so far, 79,417 patients have been discharged from hospitals after treatment.
However, more people are dying from the disease as infections continue to spread. Eight people died from the virus on Saturday, taking the death toll to 1,350.
Nigeria recorded one of its highest coronavirus-related deaths on Friday, with 12 people dying from the virus.
In the past 22 days, there have been 138 fatalities as a result of COVID-19 complications in Nigeria.
Our discharges today include 419 community recoveries in Lagos State, 123 community recoveries in Gombe State and 117 community recoveries in Plateau State managed in line with guidelines.
A breakdown of cases by state can be found via https://t.co/zQrpNeOfet pic.twitter.com/nhnaakXPXk
— NCDC (@NCDCgov) January 9, 2021
This week, Nigeria has been smashing previous records of highest daily tallies to indicate how swift the officially declared second wave of COVID-19 is spreading.
Active cases in the country rose sharply from about 3,000 about a month ago to over 17,000 due to a rise in new infections.
In Africa, Nigeria is the 9th most affected country by the coronavirus after South Africa, Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia, Ethiopia, Libya, Kenya and Algeria.
Federal Government recently warned that a significant increase in coronavirus infections in Nigeria appears imminent this January due to continued violation of safety protocols during the Christmas period.
The government has blamed the increasing deaths on late referral of COVID-19 patients to treatment centres.
Nigeria has so far conducted over a million COVID-19 tests.
