Total number of coronavirus infections in Nigeria surpassed 120,000 on Saturday, nearly a year after an Italian traveller arrived in the country with the virus via Lagos airport on February 27, 2020.
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COVID-19, the pneumonia-like disease caused by coronavirus which was first detected in Wuhan, China and have spread to over 200 countries across the globe, has also claimed more than 1,500 lives in Nigeria.
This was announced by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) via its Twitter page on its Saturday night.
The agency said Nigeria recorded 1,633 new infections, taking the total number of cases in the country to 120,602.
The 1,633 new cases were reported from 21 states- Lagos (498), Plateau (214), FCT (176), Rivers (99), Kaduna (98), Edo (87), Anambra (86), Akwa Ibom (50), Osun (47), Kano (40), Oyo (40), Kwara (39), Ebonyi (28), Niger (28), Taraba (28), Ogun (27), Ondo (21), Ekiti (12), Katsina (7), Borno (6) and Delta (2).
Lagos state led with 498 new cases on Saturday followed by Plateau state with 214 new infections.
Five more people died from COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, raising the death toll in the country to 1,502.
Of the over 120,000 cases so far, 95,901 patients have been discharged from hospitals after treatment.
1,633 new cases of #COVID19Nigeria;
Lagos-498
Plateau-214
FCT-176
Rivers-99
Kaduna-98
Edo-87
Anambra-86
Akwa Ibom-50
Osun-47
Kano-40
Oyo-40
Kwara-39
Ebonyi-28
Niger-28
Taraba-28
Ogun-27
Ondo-21
Ekiti-12
Katsina-7
Borno-6
Delta-2120,602 confirmed
95,901 discharged
1,502 deaths pic.twitter.com/UNp0NH2lzS— NCDC (@NCDCgov) January 23, 2021
Read Also: Nigeria To Get 100,000 COVID-19 Vaccines By February
The grim milestone was reached as Nigerian authorities continue to shuffle plans to receive the coronavirus vaccines. About 100,000 doses of vaccines are being expected in February, officials have said.
Our discharges today includes 573 community recoveries in Lagos State managed in line with guidelines.
A breakdown of cases by state can be found via https://t.co/zQrpNeOfet pic.twitter.com/opVAi4igcI
— NCDC (@NCDCgov) January 23, 2021
Since early December, there has been an upscale in reported cases and deaths with Nigeria officially declaring the second wave of the pandemic.
The daily infection and deaths seem to be concentrated more in Lagos, Abuja, Plateau and Kano states, although other states are also witnessing more cases.
As Nigeria continues to record more new coronavirus infections, the direct adverse impact has been more fatalities, a situation health officials blamed on late referral of patients.
Within the past one week, about 75 lives have been lost to COVID-19 complications in Nigeria. In the past four weeks, there have been over 200 fatalities.
While the relatively high numbers of cases and deaths may be in part due to a marginal improvement in testing, health experts believe the relaxing of guard, weak enforcement of protocols especially in the country’s two major airports in Abuja and Lagos as well as massive gatherings during the Yuletide were responsible for the spike.
Active cases in Nigeria rose sharply from about 3,000 about two months ago to over 20,000 due to a rise in new infections.
So far, Nigeria has conducted over 1.2 million COVID-19 tests.
