Covid-19: Nigeria records 1,664 new cases

Nigeria has reached another grim milestone in its coronavirus outbreak with 1,664 new cases recorded on Wednesday, the highest daily figure so far since the disease began spreading in the country.

This week, Nigeria has been consistent in setting and smashing previous records of highest daily tallies to indicate how swift the officially declared second wave of COVID-19 is spreading.

On Monday, Nigeria recorded 1,204 new cases as the country’s highest daily figure, a record smashed by the 1,354 infections reported from 21 states on Tuesday.

The latest highest daily tally of 1,664 pushed the total number of infections since the start of the pandemic in the country to 94,369.

Nigeria, on Wednesday, also reported five additional deaths from the disease.

This is according to the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

The death tally from the COVID-19 disease in Nigeria increased to 1,324, the NCDC announced late Wednesday.

In the past 19 days, there have been 112 fatalities as a result of COVID-19 complications in Nigeria.

Since early December, there has been a spike in coronavirus infections in Nigeria as the country continues to set new records in daily infections.

Until the resurgence of the infections in December 2020, Nigeria never had more daily infections than the 745 reported on June 19.

Active cases in the country rose sharply from about 3,000 some weeks ago to over 11,000 due to a rise in new infections.

Of the over 94,000 cases so far, 77, 299 patients have been discharged from hospitals after treatment.

Lagos led with 642 new cases, more than half of Wednesday’s tally. The commercial city is Nigeria’s coronavirus epicentre with a total of over 32,000 cases and more than 250 deaths.

Abuja with the second-highest number of infections and deaths also came second on Wednesday with 407 new cases.

With the country into the second wave of the pandemic, federal authorities have ordered the reopening of all isolation and treatment centres in the country.

According to the NCDC, the failure of Nigerians to comply with the COVID-19 safety protocols during the festive period could lead to more spread of the disease.

So far, Nigeria has conducted over 980,000 COVID-19 tests.