Nigeria on Tuesday recorded 346 new coronavirus infections in 18 states, according health authorities.
The new figure is slightly lower than the 371 new cases recorded in the previous 24-hour cycle.
With the latest figure, the total infection tally in the country is now 159,252, according to an update published by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on Tuesday night.
346 new cases of #COVID19Nigeria;
Lagos-86
Bauchi-64
Kaduna-26
Kwara-26
FCT-24
Rivers-23
Plateau-22
Ogun-16
Ebonyi-14
Bayelsa-12
Cross River-10
Edo-8
Akwa Ibom-5
Ekiti-3
Gombe-2
Kano-2
Osun-2
Delta-1159,252 confirmed
139,056 discharged
1,988 deaths pic.twitter.com/drgtVeDWi8— NCDC (@NCDCgov) March 9, 2021
Nigeria suffered its worst phase of the COVID-19 outbreak between December and January as daily infections averaged over 1,000.
Recently, however, infection figures have been relatively low with daily cases hovering between 195 and 709 in the past two weeks.
The 195 cases on Saturday are the lowest reported since August 31, 2020, when there were 138 new infections.
While Nigeria’s COVID-19 daily infection figures have significantly reduced, the death tally from the disease has continued to rise indicating that the country is not yet out of the woods.
About 1,988 deaths have now been recorded from coronavirus in Nigeria after six more people died on Tuesday, according to NCDC’s data.
Our discharges today include 170 community recoveries in Lagos State and 83 in Kwara State managed in line with guidelines.
A breakdown of cases by state can be found via https://t.co/zQrpNeOfet pic.twitter.com/qkrXmytVxi
— NCDC (@NCDCgov) March 9, 2021
Tuesday’s death figure is lower than the 13 deaths recorded on Monday and raised the fatality toll in the past one week to 81 in total.
Health experts believe the official data under-reports both infections and deaths because of the country’s limited testing capacity.
Since the pandemic broke out in Nigeria in February last year, the country has carried out over 1.6 million tests.
More than two-thirds of the over 159,000 people infected by COVID-19 in Nigeria have recovered after treatment.
According to NCDC data published Monday night, a total of 139,056 have recovered after treatment.
Meanwhile, over 18,000 infections are still active in the country.
