[ad_1]
Confirmed COVID-19 cases in Nigeria rose to 107,345 on Friday night after reporting 1,867 new cases, the highest increase in a single day in the country since the start of the pandemic.
The Nigerian Center for Disease Control (NCDC), which confirmed the figure, said eight more deaths were recorded, bringing the death toll to 1,413.
The new cases were reported in 23 states, including Abuja, the federal capital territory, and Lagos, the economic hub. Lagos, also the most populous state in Nigeria, reported 713 new infections in the daily count.
According to the NCDC, recovered cases in Nigeria rose to 84,535, as a total of 705 patients were discharged within 24 hours across the country. This included 277 community recoveries in the southwestern state of Lagos, 150 in the northern state of Kaduna and 78 in the central state of Plateau, managed according to the guidelines.
The NCDC said genomic sequencing in Nigeria does not yet show evidence of variants associated with increased transmission, meaning that the new highly transmissible variant of COVID-19 had not been detected in the country.
“But we are looking … and we will not back down in our disease surveillance efforts,” the public health agency said in a statement.
Nigeria beat its existing highest weekly record for COVID-19 infections last week, recording more than 9,800 cases in seven days.
An analysis by Nigeria’s official News Agency showed that between January 3-9, the country recorded 9,833 cases, a sharp increase from the 5,681 cases recorded the previous week.
The NCDC said that a multi-sector Emergency Operations Center is coordinating response activities across the country, which is battling a second wave of COVID-19.
He also urged people and institutions to take responsibility and play their role to ensure compliance with preventive measures.
On Thursday, the Nigerian government dismissed rumors that it was planning to, again, blockade the country amid the increase in the number of COVID-19 cases.
On the same day, the federal government ordered all schools to reopen on January 18 after a comprehensive review of a proposed school resumption by stakeholders.
Nigeria expects to receive up to 20 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines this month to inoculate frontline health workers who are at risk of infection on a daily basis, Health Minister Osagie Ehanire said.
The country will try to obtain additional vaccines, the minister added.
— GNA
