Nigeria has recorded less than 1,000 new daily COVID-19 cases for 10 consecutive days, the first time since the second wave started last December.
On Monday, 360 new infections were found in 19 states taking the total tally in past three days to 941.
360 new cases of #COVID19Nigeria;
Lagos-120
Edo-38
Kaduna-25
FCT-23
Imo-23
Delta-19
Akwa Ibom-17
Plateau-17
Rivers-16
Nasarawa-15
Kwara-13
Oyo-9
Ogun-8
Bauchi-4
Osun-4
Kano-3
Kebbi-3
Niger-2
Katsina-1156,017 confirmed
133,904 discharged
1,915 deaths pic.twitter.com/NTltoxbxhN— NCDC (@NCDCgov) March 1, 2021
Nigeria recorded its lowest daily figure of new coronavirus infections in about six months with the 240 new cases reported on Sunday. Also, on Saturday, 341 new cases were reported.
The total number of infections in the country is now 156,017, according to Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
Reacting to this, World Health Organisation’s (WHO) country representative, Walter Mulomo recently said with the low number of new daily cases recorded in the past week, Nigeria’s response against the disease may have started paying off.
Meanwhile, Nigeria on Monday recorded eight deaths, raising the total fatality toll in the country to 1,915.
On Sunday, two deaths were recorded, the lowest daily fatality in over six months. Three deaths were also recorded on Saturday.
Also, more than two-thirds of the over 156,000 people infected by COVID-19 in Nigeria have recovered after treatment.
According to NCDC’s Monday data, a total of 133,904 people have recovered after treatment.
Although people who recover from a viral infection often develop immunity against the same disease, it remains unclear whether this is the case with COVID-19 infection.
Meanwhile, over 20,000 infections are still active in the country.
Our discharges today includes 81 community recoveries in Lagos State and 70 in the FCT managed in line with guidelines.
A breakdown of cases by state can be found via https://t.co/zQrpNeOfet pic.twitter.com/vWzSBnkXdm
— NCDC (@NCDCgov) March 1, 2021
However, 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 1,544,008 tests, which is less than one per cent of the country’s 200 million population.
Read Also: Nigeria To Receive 3.92 Million Doses Of COVID-19 Vaccine On Tuesday
Meanwhile, Nigeria will on Tuesday (today) receive the first batch of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines through COVAX, a global sharing programme designed to make vaccine access more equal, health authorities said.
According to Faisal Shuaib, executive director of NPHCDA, an agency at the centre of the vaccine rollout plan, approximately four million doses will land in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, Tuesday at 11 a.m. making the West African nation the third country to receive jabs through the COVAX arrangement.
Ghana was the first country to benefit from the programme after receiving 600,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccines last Wednesday followed by Ivory Coast that took delivery of over 500,000 doses last Friday.
Read Also: Ghana Receives World’s First Doses Of Free COVAX-Facilitated Vaccines
At least 92 low and middle-income countries will receive free vaccines through COVAX, a World Health Organisation vaccine-sharing initiative.
With the arrival of the 4 million doses, Nigeria is currently the biggest benefactor of the initiative in the first phase. The West African nation is expecting a total of 16 million jabs that will come in four phases.
