By Grace Audu (HEALTH CORRESPONDENT) –
With 31 new coronavirus (COVID-19) infections confirmed in the country yesterday, Nigeria’s total active cases now stand at 7,657 up from 7,637 on Friday.
The 31 new cases have also raised the total number of infections in the country to 166,285.
This was made known by the Nigeria Centre For Disease Control (NCDC) in its daily update via its official twitter handle @NCDCgov in the late hours of Saturday.
According to the public health agency, the new COVID-19 infections were registered in five states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
“The country count of new COVID-19 daily cases dropped below 50, with the 31 new confirmed cases.
“Saturday’s case count is lower than Friday’s case count which saw 63 new infections.
“Fifteen cases were recorded in Lagos, 5 in Gombe, 4 in Akwa-Ibom, 3 in FCT and 2 cases each in Kaduna and Kwara state.
”There were no cases in Bauchi, Ekiti, Nasarawa, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Plateau, and Sokoto States,” it stated.
NCDC said that the death toll in the country still stands at 2,071, as no death related to the disease was recorded.
It said that 156,557 people had recovered from COVID-19, adding that the figure is about 94.15 per cent of known cases.
NCDC added that resolved cases increased by 11 in the past 24 hours, adding that there were more new cases than resolved cases on Saturday.
It said that the country had also conducted over two million tests since the first case was announced on Feb. 27, 2020.
It added that a multi-sectoral national emergency operations centre (EOC), activated at Level 2, continued to coordinate the national response activities.
According to a report by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), which quoted the Nigerian COVID-19 Situation Report for Epi Week published by the NCDC, the number of new confirmed cases increased to 310 from 290 reported in week 19, adding that these were reported in 15 states and FCT.
The weekly COVID-19 situation reports provide a summary of the epidemiological situation, datasheet and response activities in Nigeria.
It noted that the situation reports showed that in Week 20 that the number of discharged cases decreased to 63 from 116 in week 19, reported in 11 states and the FCT, while the number of reported death in the last one week was 1 (Ondo State).
It indicated that cumulatively, since the outbreak began in Week 9, 2020, there have been 166,019 cases and 2,067 deaths reported with a case fatality rate (CFR) of 1.2 per cent.
“The number of in-bound international travellers at Nigerian airports was 15,755 compared with 15,669 in Week 19.
”The number of in-bound international travellers test was 2,747 of which 23 were positive compared to 18 from week 19.
”Also, the number of out-bound international travellers test was 3,833 of which 25 were positive compared to 24 from week 19,” the situation reports indicated.
NCDC commended Nigerians for keeping the curve low, but said “we cannot let our guards down.”
”COVID-19 pandemic is not yet over. We must continue to take protective measures to limit the spread and protect our families and communities,” it said.