In Nigeria, Covid-19 cases hit 36,000 with 653 on Saturday

By Charles Joseph

July 18, 2020 - COVID-19 cases in the West African nation, Nigeria has surpassed 36,000 with 653 new cases confirmed on Saturday by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

Nigeria is among the 10 countries that account for 88% of all COVID-19 cases in Africa, with South Africa alone accounting for half of that percentage.

Total infections in Nigeria currently stands at 36,107, the NDDC said on its official twitter handle, adding that six deaths were also recorded on the said day.

The health agency, however, said that 305 recovered patients were discharged from various isolation centres across the country after undergoing treatment, adding that total number of recovered patients now stood at 14,938 whil death toll was now 778.

The new cases according to Centre were reported from 27 states and Nigeria's Capital City, the FCT, and only nine states not reporting any new case.

Nigeria's commercial hub, Lagos accounted for the highest cases with 115. Kwara reported 85 new infections, Enugu 80, FCT 78, Rivers 36, Ondo 35, Oyo 30, Katsina 28, Kaduna 19, Abia 19, Nasarawa 18, Plateau 17 and Imo 16.

On the perceived delay in completing Covid-19 tests in centres around Nigeria, the NCDC explained that most of the delay was experiences in getting the results to the individuals and not in conducting the tests.

“We are working on a new platform to improve the system of communicating results.

“COVID-19 is not malaria. If you have COUGH or FEVER and one of these symptoms: Loss of taste/smell, difficulty in breathing, diarrhoea, catarrh, fatigue, shivering, body pain, headache, and  sore throat, call your state hotline: covid19.ncdc.gov.ng/contact/,” it stated.