COVID-19: Nigeria Records 397 New Cases, 10 More Deaths

As the country continues to battle the second wave of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the National Centre for Disease and Control (NCDC) on Monday recorded 397 new cases and 10 more deaths across the 36 states.

AllNews understands that the new cases of the virus increased the total covid-19 deaths to 1,264, and the total number of the country's covid-19 infections to 84, 811.

Meanwhile, this online medium gathered that in the past 10 days, there have been 52 recorded deaths from the coronavirus.

According to the NCDC on Monday night via its verified Twitter handle said 397 new cases were found in 18 states over the previous 24 hours, indicating a sharp decrease from the 838 infections on Sunday.

However, Monday night total record of the virus 

Since early December, there has been a spike in coronavirus cases in Nigeria, However, the Monday night update shows one of the lowest daily figures in December.

Health experts believe the lowering of guard on safety and the weak enforcement of protocols especially in the country’s major airports in Abuja and Lagos could be responsible for the development, warning that the situation could get worse if citizens keep violating safety protocols.

It could be recalled that 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 84,000 cases so far, 71,385 patients have been discharged from hospitals after treatment.

The 397 new cases were reported from 18 states – Lagos (144); Plateau (83); Kaduna (48); Adamawa (36); Rivers (22); Oyo (16); Kebbi (10); Nasarawa (7); Sokoto (7); FCT (5); Kano (5); Edo (4); Jigawa (3); Ogun (2); Akwa Ibom (2); Niger (1); Bauchi (1); and Zamfara (1),

Lagos led with 144 new cases on Monday. The commercial city is Nigeria’s coronavirus epicenter with over 28,000 cases and more than 240 deaths.

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

The Nigerian government has also reintroduced new restrictions to check the spread of the virus, including the use of bars and nightclubs and limiting the number of people allowed in a public gathering.

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Nigerian authorities say they are expecting to receive in January one of the vaccines developed globally for COVID-19 but evidence on the ground at the country’s National Strategic Cold Store suggests the January target may be unrealistic.

So far, Nigeria has tested over 910,000 of its 200 million people.