COVID- 19 cases in Nigeria surges by 1,149 amid Delta variant increase
Nigeria has recorded 1,149 new cases of COVID-19, the highest number of infections in a single day since February, says the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
With the latest figure, the total number of infections in Nigeria now stands at 184,593.
The NCDC, which disclosed this on its official website handle on Thursday morning, said the figure included the 393 reported in Lagos on Tuesday.
The new infections were an increase from the 357 cases reported on Tuesday. According to the NCDC, the Delta variant is responsible for the COVID-19 surge, including the low vaccination rate in the country.
The number of known active cases in Nigeria stood at 14,619, an increase from the 13,756 cases reported on Tuesday.
The public health agency did not state the percentage of the Delta variant in the active cases in the country. The NCDC stated that seven patients succumbed to the disease on Wednesday, raising the country’s total fatalities to 2,236.
The 1,149 new cases were reported from 15 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Lagos reported the highest number of infections with 680 cases, followed by Rivers with 157 and Akwa Ibom with 94. Oyo reported 56; Edo 36; FCT 34; Ogun 31; Ekiti 20 and Delta 16. Abia, Nasarawa, and Osun had five cases each; Cross River had four; Plateau recorded three cases; Sokoto reported two cases, and Kano had one.
The NCDC stated that Nigeria had successfully treated 167,738 COVID-19 cases in the aftermath of the discharge of 279 patients on Wednesday. It added that about 2,648,684 samples had been tested for COVID-19 in Nigeria, a country with over 200 million people.