COVID-19: Nigeria Cases Exceeds 2000 

By Our Correspondent

Nigeria’s crossed the 2,000 mark on Friday as the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC.

The NCDC announced the new cases via its Twitter handle on Friday, with 92 cases recorded in Kano.

A breakdown of the remaining new cases showed that the federal capital territory (FCT) recorded 36 cases, 30 were recorded in Lagos, 16 in Gombe, 10 in Bauchi, eight in Delta, six in Oyo, five each in Zamfara and Sokoto, four each in Ondo and Nasarawa, three each in Kwara, Edo, Ekiti, Borno and Yobe, two in Adamawa and one each in Niger, Imo, Ebonyi, Rivers and Enugu.

The number of discharged patients increased from 319 to 351, while ten deaths were recorded, bringing the total number of fatalities to 68.

A total of 2,170 cases have now been confirmed in 34 states and the FCT.

On Thursday, the NCDC tested 2,000 samples, the highest so far in one day since the agency began sample collection and testing for coronavirus.

Speaking at the presidential task force on COVID-19 briefing on Friday, Chikwe Ihekweazu, director-general of the NCDC, expressed concern that the country didn’t have enough isolation centres for COVID-19 patients as no state had fulfilled its expected bed capacity.

“From the information we have from the states, we have about 3,500 beds available right now. We push the states to make more beds available. We encourage every private sector partner. If you want to support, do so in the state you are living,” he said.

“There is no state in Nigeria, even Lagos and FCT, that has fully fulfilled the bed capacity that they need to respond to this outbreak.”

NCDC also says it has set a target to test two million people in the next three months.