Nigeria to open further amid virus spike; interstate lockdown fails

Nigeria to open further amid virus spike; interstate lockdown fails

Nigeria to open further amid virus spike; interstate lockdown fails

Nigerian government is expected to further ease-up COVID-19 restrictions by Monday, this newspaper has learnt. This is coming despite the spike in new coronavirus cases in the country.

Reports confirm that the government could not control interstate movement of people in the last two weeks as “travelers bribe their ways through the borders”.

ALSO READ NIGERIA COVID-19 REPORTS

Saturday’s figure of 553 cases was the highest Nigeria ever recorded. A review of data provided by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) showed that the country recorded 2,329 new cases in the past week, which is a 22 per cent increase compared to 1,905 cases recorded in the previous week. The previous week’s figure was also higher than the 1,470 cases reported in the penultimate week (May 10- May 16).

While the number of new cases increased in the past two weeks, the number of recoveries have continued to reduce.

A total of 682 patients recovered and were discharged last week, which represents a 3.5 per cent drop when compared to the 707 patients discharged in the previous week. The 707 people discharged in the previous week was a 3.4 per cent drop when compared to the 727 patients discharged in the week between May 10 and May 16.

More deaths from the virus also occurred last week (52) compared to the previous week (45). The previous week’s 45 deaths were however lower than the 47 deaths recorded between May 10 and May 16.

Lagos State remains the epicentre of the pandemic in Nigeria with new 1,389 cases last week after it recorded its highest daily figure of 378 infections on Saturday.

The figure soared when compared to the 984 new cases recorded in the state in the previous week.

Nigeria so far

There are 6,726 active COVID-19 cases in the country as 2,856 people have recovered and have been discharged, with 273 deaths recorded.

A breakdown of the total 9,885 confirmed cases shows that Lagos State has so far reported 4,755 cases, followed by Kano – 951, FCT – 616, Katsina – 364, Edo – 284, Oyo – 280, Borno – 271,Jigawa – 270, Ogun – 259, Kaduna – 244, Bauchi – 236, Rivers – 204, Gombe – 156, Sokoto – 116, Plateau – 104, Kwara – 87, Delta – 80, Zamfara – 76, Nasarawa – 62, 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.

Timeline last week

On Sunday, 313 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in the country.

On Monday, 229 new cases of the pandemic were reported in the country. This brought the tally of confirmed cases to 8,068 as of 11:55 p.m. on May 25.

On Tuesday, 276 new cases of COVID-19 were recorded.

A total of 389 new cases of the pandemic were reported on Wednesday which brought the number of confirmed cases to 8,733.

On Thursday, 182 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in the country.

On Friday, 387 new cases were reported in Nigeria, hence bringing the tally of confirmed cases to 9302 as of 11:55 p.m. on May 29.

On Saturday, 553 new cases of the virus were recorded.

Therefore, a total of 9,855 cases have been reported, out of which 2,856 have recovered and 273 have died.

Testing

Nigeria has so far tested 60,825 persons since the beginning of the outbreak in February. This means the country tested 17,497 people last week, its highest weekly figure of tests conducted.

Despite the increasing figures, many Nigerians say Nigeria is not testing enough and the figures may not present the true situation in the country.