Nigeria's daily COVID-19 cases jump amid Omicron variant

NCDC DG Ifedayo Adetifa announces Omicron variant in Nigeria

NCDC DG Ifedayo Adetifa

By Abujah Racheal

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), has announced 105 COVID-19 cases as it detected three of the Omicron COVID-19 variant.

The NCDC gave the figures in its daily COVID-19 report on Wednesday in Abuja.

The Centre warned that Nigeria is at risk of registering high incidences of the new variant due to neglect of preventive measures at airports and other points of entry in the country.

The 105 cases reported on Tuesday were 5 times more than the 21 reported Monday.

Nigeria now has a total of 214,218 COVID-19 confirmed cases.

According to the agency, the fresh infections were recorded in eight states and the federal capital territory (FCT).

The breakdown is as follows: Lagos (43), Gombe (21), FCT (16), Niger (10), Rivers (6), Plateau (5), Edo (2), Bauchi (1), and Kano (1).

The NCDC said that 12 people had recovered from the infection as of Tuesday, while the total number of discharged cases now stood at 207,304 nationwide.

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It further said there was one COVID-19 fatality reported on Tuesday leaving the total fatality figure at 2,977.

The agency added that a total of 3,479,682 blood samples had been tested since the pandemic began across the country.

Since the emergence of the Omicron variant in the country, the Federal Ministry of Health through the NCDC had intensified public health response measures to COVID-19 in the country.

The national travel advisory has also been revised by the Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) on COVID-19 and now requires all inbound travelers to Nigeria to present a negative COVID-19 test result done not more than 48hrs before departure.

Pre-booking and payment for all day 2 and day 7 COVID-19 PCR tests are prerequisites for travel.

Also all outbound passengers regardless of the requirements of destination countries are expected to present evidence of full vaccination or a negative COVID-19 PCR test done not later than 48 hours before departure.

The government appealed to its citizens to adhere strictly to these travel protocols and other public safety measures.

It added that given the risk of increased transmissibility of the Omicron variant, it is essential to prevent community transmission.

The NCDC advised states to that sample collection and testing remained accessible, so that people who have symptoms or have been exposed to a positive case be tested quickly.

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