Nigeria’s tally of COVID-19 infections on Friday evening increased to 305 from 288 announced on Thursday by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
According to the new data released by NCDC, 17 new cases were recorded in seven states: Lagos. Katsina, FCT, Niger, Kaduna, Anambra and Ondo.
Two states, Anambra and Niger, reported their first confirmed cases of the virus since the beginning of the outbreak in Nigeria in February.
A breakdown of the new cases shows that eight new cases were reported in Lagos, three in Katsina, and two in FCT, while Niger, Kaduna, Anambra and Ondo have one apiece.
Till date, 305 cases have been confirmed, 58 cases have been discharged and seven deaths have been recorded in Nigeria.
The health agency tweeted around 9:31 p.m. that “as at 09:30 pm 10th April there are 305 confirmed cases of COVID19 reported in Nigeria. Fifty- eight have been discharged with seven deaths. For more info- http://covid19.ncdc.gov.ng”
A breakdown of the cases reported in the country shows that Lagos is still the epicenter for the outbreak in the country.
Lagos State has now reported 163 cases, followed by FCT – 56, Osun – 20, Edo – 12, Oyo – 11, Bauchi and Kaduna – 6, Akwa Ibom – 5, Ogun – 7, Katsina – 4, Enugu, Ekiti, Rivers, Kwara, Delta and Ondo have two cases each while Niger, Benue and Anambra have recorded one each.
Increasing cases
The Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, said in Abuja on Friday that the increase in confirmed cases is due to the diligence in contact tracing and testing but there are still backlog in testing.
He said new cases are expected to be recorded as the government intensifies contact tracing.
He also asked that private practitioners should support COVID-19 response, by educating the public, protecting patients and frontline health workers through a high index of suspicion to identify and refer suspected cases of COVID-19 to designated treatment centres.
