The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on Friday said Nigeria recorded 387 new cases of the Coronavirus, (COVID-19), in the country, the total infections now 9,302.
Data from the NCDC showed that Nigeria currently has 6,344 active cases.
It said, “On the 29th of May 2020, 387 new confirmed cases and two deaths were recorded in Nigeria.
“No new state has reported a case in the last 24 hours.
“Till date, 9,302 cases have been confirmed, 2,697 cases have been discharged and 261 deaths have been recorded in 35 states and the Federal Capital Territory”.
The breakdown of the states where the new cases were recorded showed that Lagos remains the epicentre with 254 new cases, FCT-29 Jigawa-24 Edo-22 Oyo-15 Rivers-14 Kaduna-11 Borno-6 Kano-3 Plateau-2 Yobe-2 Gombe-2 Bauchi-2 Ondo-1.
The breakdown of the total number of cases in each state is as follows:
Lagos (4,377), Kano (942), FCT, (564), Katsina (358), Oyo (275), Jigawa (265), Borno (264), Edo (262), Ogun (246), Bauchi (236), Kaduna (232), Rivers (192), Gombe (156), Sokoto (116), Plateau (101), Kwara (87), Zamfara (76).
Others are Nasarawa (62), Delta (57), Yobe (49), Akwa Ibom (45), Osun (44), Ebonyi (40), Adamawa (38), Imo (34), Kebbi (33), Niger (30), Ondo (25), Ekiti (20), Enugu (18), Taraba (18), Bayelsa (12), Anambra (11), Abia (10), Benue (7) and Kogi (2).
Meanwhile, the NCDC has raised the alarm over growing rapid test kits black market in the country.
The agency’s Director General, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, at the press conference in Abuja, lamented that some organisations are selling “what they call antibody tests.”
He, therefore warned that such “antibody tests” could not give valid COVID-19 results.
Nigeria currently has 112 isolation centres in 35 states and the Federal Capital Territory. There are 29 laboratories, where COVID-19 is being tested.
He said, “It’s important to understand what an antibody test is. When an antibody test works, it only tells you if you have been exposed and infected. It doesn’t tell you if you have an active infection or not. Therefore, on its own, it is very difficult to use it to make a clinical decision.
“So, I would really encourage everyone, as we begin to plan to go back to work, whether you are an employee and an employer, to really focus on prevention.
“There’s a growing black market on rapid diagnostic test kits in Nigeria. We have to be careful in what we buy, how we use it and how we interpret the results that it provides,” he said.
He also said the Governor of Ekiti State, Dr Kayode Fayemi, and his Jigawa State counterpart, Mohammed Abubakar, requested COVID-19 test laboratories in their states.
