Following the record of relatively low daily COVID-19 infection figures for almost two weeks, Nigeria recorded 709 new toll on Thursday.
It would be recalled that Nigeria suffered its worst phase of the COVID-19 outbreak between December and January as daily infections averaged over 1,000.
However, infection figures recently have been relatively low with daily cases hovering between 300 and 700 in the past 13 days.
Thursday’s figure, recorded in 21 states, is therefore the highest in about two weeks and higher than the 479 reported on Wednesday, signalling a possible return of high daily figures.
708 new cases of #COVID19Nigeria
Adamawa-180
Lagos-141
Ondo-60
Anambra-54
Rivers-41
Taraba-33
Edo-30
Abia-22
Kaduna-22
FCT-21
Akwa Ibom-20
Kano-20
Plateau-11
Ekiti-10
Kebbi-10
Nasarawa-10
Bayelsa-7
Ogun-5
Osun-5
Oyo-5
Gombe-1157,671 confirmed
136,335 discharged
1,951 deaths pic.twitter.com/HJH9YY0u7G— NCDC (@NCDCgov) March 5, 2021
With the latest figure, the total infection tally in the country is now 157,671, according to an update published by Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on Thursday night.
Also, NCDC disclosed that 504 people were discharged on Thursday after testing negative to the virus.
Thursday’s discharges include 229 community recoveries in Lagos State, 144 in Imo and 45 in Akwa Ibom.
Meanwhile, Nigerian recorded 12 deaths from COVID-19 as the country plans to commence vaccination after taking delivery of four million doses of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine on Tuesday.
The fatality toll in the country has relatively been on the rise. Thursday’s death tally raised the fatality toll in the past three days to 44 in total.
With the latest figure, the total fatality toll in the country is now 1,951, according to NCDC.
A breakdown of cases by state can be found via https://t.co/zQrpNeOfet#TakeResponsibility pic.twitter.com/PI4rPlzfCh
— NCDC (@NCDCgov) March 5, 2021
Health experts believe the official data under-reports both infections and deaths because of the country’s limited testing capacity.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, has so far conducted test figures less than one per cent of the country’s 200 million population. Nigeria has conducted 1,544,008 tests so far.
More than two-third (136,335) of the over 157,000 people infected by COVID-19 in Nigeria have recovered after treatment.
Meanwhile, over 20,000 infections are still active in the country.
