Active COVID-19 cases in Nigeria close to 20,000

Active COVID-19 cases in Nigeria ballooned to 19,479 on Friday, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control(NCDC) revealed in its latest report.

Active cases rose from 16,569 on Thursday.

Lagos harbours 10,209 of the cases, followed by Abuja, with 2,314 and Delta 2,039. Rivers is fourth with 1,039 cases.

According to the NCDC, Nigeria recorded 1,356 COVID-19 cases in 11 states and the FCT on Friday.

Friday’s new infections brought the country’s tally to 234,709.

The country also recorded two COVID-19 related deaths, raising the mortality figure from 2,991 on Thursday to 2,993.

Lagos State maintained its lead on the table with 822 cases, down from 845 cases it recorded on Thursday.

Rivers followed with 119 cases, Kwara (107), FCT (103), Edo (97), Kano (29), Imo (25), Delta (19), Plateau (14), Borno (10), Gombe (8) and Bauchi (3).

Those treated and discharged totalled 212,237, as the FCT reported a backlog of 140 discharges and 120 community discharges for Dec. 24.

According to the NCDC, Nigeria has tested 3,751,696 samples since the virus was announced on Feb. 27, 2020.

In the out-going week, Nigeria recorded 10,856 COVID-19 infections cumulatively including 45 Omicron variant cases as of Dec. 20.

On the African continent, South Africa and Botswana are ahead of Nigeria in the Omicron variant infection recording 1,296 and 291 cases respectively.