No fewer than 12 people died of the dreaded coronavirus (COVID-19) disease in 24 hours in Nigeria, the country’s health agency has said.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) also reported 1,544 new cases of the deadly virus on its verified website on Friday.
The figure showed that the infection rate has continued to increase across the country, especially in Lagos State, which has remained the epicentre of the pandemic in Nigeria.
The NCDC reports that the country’s daily new infections accelerated to a record high of over 1,500 cases for the third time bringing the total to 97,478.
There is now a rise in confirmed COVID-19 cases nationwide similar to the second wave of infections occurring in other countries.
The NCDC said that the new infections were recorded in 20 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
It said that Lagos state reported 739 new cases, followed by Plateau with 168 cases and the FCT with 153 cases, Oyo (91), Nasarawa (90), Rivers (80), Kaduna (35) and Edo (33).
Other states: Kano (29), Ogun (21), Delta (19), Sokoto (16), Akwa Ibom (11), Ebonyi (11), Enugu (10), Osun (10), Niger (9), Bauchi (8), Kebbi (8), Katsina (2), and Taraba (1).
The agency, however, noted that 570 patients were discharged from isolation centres across the country on Friday which include 264 and 147 community recoveries in Lagos and Plateau States.
A multi-sectoral national Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) activated at Level 3, is coordinating response activities nationwide.
It was reported that since the first case of coronavirus was reported in the country, 1,011,584 people have been tested of which 97,478 were tested positive.
Presently, the country’s active cases is 17,584, while only two states, Kogi and Cross River, have no active case of the infection as at Jan. 8.
Meanwhile, Nigeria has directed that with effect from Jan. 11, travellers must perform a COVID-19 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test not more than four days as well as show proof of payment for post-arrival test before boarding.