Nigeria Records Its Highest COVID-19 Cases

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) disclosed on its official Facebook page on Wednesday morning that Nigeria has recorded 404 COVID-19 infections, the highest in four months.

The latest infections represent the highest number of daily cases recorded in four months, taking the total tally to 171,728 and 2,134 casualties.

This came few weeks after the federal government confirmed the Delta variant in the country. The Delta variant is recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a variant of concern, given its increased transmissibility.

The variant has been detected in over 100 countries. Expected to spread to more countries. The variant has been linked to a surge in COVID-19 cases in countries where it is the dominant strain in circulation.

There are ongoing studies to understand the impact of the variant on existing vaccines and therapeutics.

According to the NCDC, 4,010 cases have been registered so far in July, a significant increase compared to 1,100 and 1,394 recorded in June and May 2021, respectively.

The public health agency announced that 404 infections were reported in 11 states, with Lagos reporting 356 cases. Rivers recorded 18 cases, FCT (7), Ekiti (5), Kaduna (5), Gombe (3), Kano (3), Edo (2), Ogun (2), Bayelsa (1), Plateau (1) and Nasarawa (1).

The NCDC disclosed that 39 people recovered and were discharged from isolation centres.

The agency assured that a multi-sectoral national Emergency Operations Centre (EOC), activated at Level 2, would continue to coordinate the national response to COVID-19.

The NCDC added that the country tested more than 2.4 million samples for the virus out of the country’s estimated 200 million population.

It added that the country’s active cases stood at 4,737 as of July 27.