Nigeria records 386 new Covid-19 cases as Lagos projects 120,000 residents to be infected by July

Chidi Samuel| The upward trajectory in the cases of new COVID-19 infections in the country continued on Friday as the Nigeria Centre For Disease Control has confirmed 386 new cases of the highly contagious and dangerous disease.

For the second night in a row, the health agency has recorded the highest number of infections in a single day.

In a Tweet on its verified Twitter handle @NCDCgov, the agency said that Lagos recorded the highest number of infections with 176 new cases. Kano recorded 65 while Katsina had 31 infections.

Other states that witnessed new infections include, FCT 20, Bornu 20, Bauchi 15, Nasarawa 14, Ogun 13, Plateau 10, Oyo 4, Sokoto 4, Rivers 4, Kaduna 3, Edo 2, Ebonyi 2, Ondo 2, Enugu, Imo, Osun and Osun recorded one case each.

The health agency further stted that as Friday, Nigeria recorded 3912 COVID-19 cases with 679 discharges and 117 deaths.

The tweet read, ”386 new cases of #COVID19;

176-Lagos
65-Kano
31-Katsina
20-FCT
17-Borno
15-Bauchi
14-Nasarawa
13-Ogun
10-Plateau
4-Oyo
4-Sokoto
4-Rivers
3-Kaduna
2-Edo
2-Ebonyi
2-Ondo
1-Enugu
1-Imo
1-Gombe
1-Osun

3912 cases of #COVID19 in Nigeria.”
Discharged: 679
Deaths: 117

–Lagos COVID-19 cases projected to rise to 120,000 by July

Even as the number of new infections continue to rise in Lagos, the state government on Friday projected that number of COVID-19 cases in the state will likely rise to 120,000 by July.

The state, currently the epicentre of the outbreak in the country recorded 183 new cases on Thursday bringing the total number of confirmed infections to 1,491 which accounts for 42.3 percent of Nigeria’s total cases.

Professor Akin Abayomi, the state commissioner for health who made the disclosure at a press briefing on Friday said the projection is based on the government model following the reported cases recorded in one day.

Professor Abayomi also revealed that Lagos is currently manufacturing sample collection kits and is working to get more test reagents.

He equally revealed that Hydroxychloroquine trials are likely to start in the state in a week’s time.