The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control on Friday said Nigeria recorded 114 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number recorded in the country to 1095.
The new cases were recorded in nine states. These are Lagos, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Ogun, Gombe, Zamfara, Edo, Oyo, Kaduna and Sokoto states.
Only 9 states are yet to record any case as 27 states and the FCT have recorded at least a case of the disease.
A breakdown of the latest update shows that 80 of the new cases were reported in Lagos, 21 in Gombe, 5 in FCT, 2 in Zamfara and Edo, and one in Ogun, Oyo, Kaduna and Sokoto states.
NCDC said, “On the 24th of April 2020, 114 new confirmed cases and one new death were recorded in Nigeria.
“One new state, Zamfara, has reported a confirmed case in the last 24 hours.
“Till date, 1095 cases have been confirmed, 208 cases have been discharged and thirty-two deaths have been recorded in 27 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
“The 114 new cases are reported from nine states- Lagos (80), Gombe (21), FCT (five), Zamfara (two), Edo (two), Ogun (one), Oyo (one), Kaduna (one), Sokoto (one).”
It also said five new cases have been transferred to Lagos from Ogun.
NCDC added, “Five cases previously recorded in Lagos, are now recorded as Ogun state cases.
The examples of Lagos and Gombe with 80 and 21 new cases respectively are pointers to the fact that Nigeria has entered a revving phase of community transmissions of COVID-19 infection as these huge numbers from highly commercial cities and the hinterland have gone beyond the limited clusters of importation by inbound international travellers.
Gombe had come from almost nowhere to beat Kano and its own neighbour, Bauchi who had dominated the news for weeks as hotbeds of COVID-19 infections. It appears therefore that aggressiveness of testing is increasingly an important factor more than anything else in driving the number of cases a State officially reports.
For the second consecutive day, no case was recorded in Kano. While no official reason was given for this, KAFTAN Post on Wednesday reported how the Kano testing centre suspended its operations due to dearth of materials and because some of its staff tested positive to the virus.
Earlier on Friday, the Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, had said that the high number of cases was as a result of ongoing community transmission and active case search.
He said most of the affected age group is from 31-40 years, while the highest COVID-19 fatality is in patients who are 50 years and above.
As the community transmission phase begins in Nigeria, KAFTAN Post in its earlier reports on Friday reported how clinicians are bracing for impact of thousands of cases on limited medical infrastructure, morale of overworked medics and dearth of protection equipment in a country of over 200 million people with a healthcare system that is already overstuffed and lacks in almost everything – from staff to equipment.
