Anxiety As Nigeria records 790 New COVID-19 Infections

As states across the country struggle to curb the spread of COVID-19 Delta variant, the News Agency of Nigeria reports that the nation is now averaging more than 700 new cases as contained in information obtained from the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC).

The NCDC, which disclosed this on its verified website on Thursday, added that the country registered 790 additional infections on Wednesday, a sharp increase from the 610 cases it registered on Tuesday.

Due to a sudden surge, driven by the highly transmissible Delta variant, the country’s average daily COVID-19 cases showed that Wednesday’s increase was the highest since February.

The surge resulted in the federal government calling on citizens to take responsibility and adhere to preventive measures in the country, especially as the caseload keeps rising on the heels of an ongoing doctors strike.

The NCDC noted that states were struggling to curb the spread of the Delta variant, with the situation becoming alarming particularly in Lagos, Akwa-Ibom, Rivers, Oyo states and the FCT, where the strain was accounting for a large number of the cases.

Consequent to the spread, NCDC observed that Lagos state set a new record for COVID-19 on Wednesday with 574 cases, and infections in Rivers state jumped to 83, Ondo-38, Ogun-31, Oyo-23, Delta-10, FCT-9, Ekiti-7, Edo-6, and Osun-4.

Anambra and Bayelsa recorded 2 cases each and Plateau-1, while three states, Kano, Nasarawa and Sokoto, reported zero cases, NCDC said.

One new death was also recorded on Wednesday, bringing the nation’s fatality count to 2,195.

A total of 74 people recovered and were discharged from various isolation centres in the country on Wednesday, with total recoveries nationwide reaching 166,203, the NCDC added.

NCDC said the country had tested more than 2.5 million samples for the virus out of an estimated 200 million population, with an average test positivity rate of six per cent.

It also disclosed that the country’s active cases had soared to 11,500.