Armageddon scenario as 553 new COVID-19 cases tally up to 9,855, Lagos’s runaway 378 cases, FCT’s 52 amidst 12 more deaths

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Nigeria on Saturday recorded a disturbing spike in Coronavirus cases, with 553 new cases confirmed in 14 states and the federal capital territory (FCT).

This is the first time ever that the country will record more than 400 cases in its daily toll.

Lagos alone accounted for 378 of the cases confirmed on Saturday, making it the state’s highest toll since the country recorded its index case on February 27, 2020.

A total of 9,855 confirmed COVID-19 cases have now been recorded in 35 states and the FCT.

The number of recoveries increased from 2,697 to 2,856, while fatalities rose from 261 to 273.

The breakdown of the states where the new cases were recorded showed that Lagos remains the epicentre with 378 new cases, FCT-52, Delta-23, Edo-22, Rivers-14, Ogun-13, Kaduna-12, Kano-9, Borno-7, Katsina-6, Jigawa-5, Oyo-5, Yobe-3, Plateau-3, Osun-1.

The breakdown of the total number of cases in each state is as follows:

Lagos (4,755), Kano (951), FCT, (616), Katsina (364), Oyo (280), Jigawa (270), Borno (271), Edo (284), Ogun (259), Bauchi (236), Kaduna (244), Rivers (204), Gombe (156), Sokoto (116), Plateau (104), Kwara (87), Zamfara (76).

Others are Nasarawa (62), Delta (80), Yobe (52), Akwa Ibom (45), Osun (45), 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).

As different states across the country lifts ban on religious activities, there have been concerns on effective safety measures that could be adopted to prevent further spread of COVID-19.

There have been concerns about the shortage of bed spaces across the country as Nigeria’s Minister of Health, Osagie Ehnaire, said if hospitals get overwhelmed, hotels and schools would be used for isolating patients with mild cases.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has said it was disturbed by the response of the Kogi State government to the discovery of two index COVID-19 cases in the state.

Francis Faduyile, the NMA president, said in a statement that the Kogi State government “especially has hardened its heart and ensured that the Kogi people remain in the dark, untested.”

It would be recalled that the state Commissioner of Information did not only describe the process of arriving at the diagnosis as fraudulent, but he also went on to criticise the frontline Health workers and the NCDC.

The government in Kogi has been at loggerheads with federal authorities and the NCDC since the outbreak of COVID-19, the deadly disease caused by the coronavirus.

Kogi and Cross Rivers were the only states yet to confirm any case of the virus until Wednesday when the NCDC announced 389 new cases out of which two were from Kogi State. It meant Cross River State remained the sole uninfected state as of May 27.

The Kogi government immediately disputed the test results, insisting that it would not accept any test result “conducted outside the state.”

Authorities in Kogi have been pitted with federal officials for discouraging tests for people with symptoms of coronavirus. They believe there is a plot to compulsorily report COVID-19 cases in the state but medical experts and the NCDC said the low number of test samples turned in from the state is making it difficult to ascertain if they are actually coronavirus-free.

Faduyile lamented that “despite being surrounded by states with confirmed cases of the virus, the government in Kogi has at least once scuttled efforts by NCDC to coordinate COVID-19 testing.

“The people are therefore undiagnosed and untreated even though COVID-19 epidemiologic pattern has 80% of cases that present with none or very mild symptoms yet shedding the virus in their airway and innocently infecting others who may become sicker and die. The identification of these cases is through testing, according to standardized protocols,” he said.

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