Nigeria records 53 more deaths from COVID-19

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on Saturday night confirmed additional 53 deaths from the coronavirus pandemic, raising the nation’s total fatality from the disease to 2,361.

The new fatality figure, a confirmation of the biting consequences of the third wave of the pandemic, ranks the highest daily fatality figure in more than a year.

The disease centre, however, cautioned that the figure comprises a backlog of fatalities recorded in Lagos State, Nigeria’s coronavirus pandemic epicentre, between August 4 and 28.

It also added that the figure of discharged patients, which now stands at 178,047, also includes the backlog of statistics from the country’s commercial hub for the same period of August 4 to 28.

Meanwhile, the NCDC also disclosed that a total of 650 new infections were confirmed across 16 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Also, there is a significant reduction in the number of active cases in Nigeria from more than 17,000 cases a few days ago to 10,575 on Saturday.

The disease centre noted that a total of 178,047 persons who were down with the disease at one time or the other have received treatment, physically at accredited facilities or remotely, and have successfully been discharged.

Data breakdown

The NCDC data shows that Lagos State registered the highest figure of 261 new cases on Saturday, followed by Ondo State with 95 new cases and Rivers State with 80.

Akwa Ibom recorded 59 cases to rank fourth, followed by two South-west states, Oyo and Ekiti, with 24 and 22 cases respectively.

The data further shows two South-south states, Delta and Edo, closely following each other with 20 and 18 cases respectively while Enugu in the South-east recorded 15 cases and Bayelsa in the South-south recorded 14.

Ogun State, which shares a border with Nigeria’s coronavirus epicentre, registered 11 cases on Saturday while Kaduna State reported eight cases, Plateau State, seven and Kano State, six.

The FCT followed with five cases, Gombe recorded three cases while Abia State recorded the lowest figure of two cases.