Total coronavirus caseload in Nigeria has exceeded 50,000 after Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) recorded 593 new cases.
The new toll comes two days after the country’s total coronavirus surpassed the 49,000 mark.
In the centre’s latest data posted on Twitter, there are now;
593 new cases of #COVID19Nigeria;
Plateau-186
Lagos-172
FCT-62
Oyo-27
Delta-25
Rivers-20
Ondo-19
Edo-18
Kaduna-17
Enugu-12
Akwa Ibom-10
Ogun-7
Abia-6
Gombe-6
Kano-3
Osun-350,488 confirmed
37,304 discharged
985 deaths pic.twitter.com/GNVBb96U0E— NCDC (@NCDCgov) August 19, 2020
It would be recalled that on Tuesday, Nigeria’s total COVID-19 toll surpassed to 49,895 with 37,051 recoveries and 981 casualties across the country.
However, with the new toll, there are now 50,488 total cases, 37,304 recoveries and 985 fatalities nationwide.
Also, according to NCDC’s situation report, total samples tested nationwide have increased from 355,196 to 363,331 as at August 18.
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has disclosed that the country currently carries out between 3,000 and 6,000 daily COVID-19 tests.
It said although the testing infrastructure available can conveniently carry out 15,000 daily COVID-19 tests, the country is yet to fully utilise this capacity, as only 40 percent of it is being deployed.
The Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, made this known in Abuja, during a television interview.
He said;
We have a national capacity to test somewhere close to 15,000 tests per day. We’re however doing between 3,000 and 5,000 and maybe 6,000 at most. So, that is what we are doing and we are testing about 40 percent of what we have the capacity to test for.
