Nigeria confirms 290 new infections as FG warns that low COVID-19 cases shouldn’t be misinterpreted for victory

Chidi Samuel| Nigeria on Monday confirmed 290 new coronavirus cases bringing the country’s toll 46,867.

The number of recoveries from people with the highly contagious virus rose 33,346.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) which made the disclosure in a statement via its Twitter handle on Monday night, said the new cases were reported
in 15 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

According to the NCDC data, Lagos lead the day with 82 new cases, followed by Plateau –82, Oyo –19, FCT –18, Edo –16, Kaduna –15, Enugu -9, Ogun –9, Kano -8, Kwara –8, Cross River -5, Ondo –5, Rivers -5, Ekiti -4, Imo –3 and Borno -2.

The health agency further stated that so far the pandemic has killed claimed 950 lives.

-Low COVID-19 cases shouldn’t be misinterpreted for victory, FG warns Nigerians

Meanwhile, the Federal Government on Monday warned Nigerians to remain vigilant as the nation intensifies the fight against the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Chairman of The Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha, who gave the warning at a briefing in Abuja, said the country has yet to win the war against COVID-19.

According to him, it is important that the daily low test and case confirmation numbers should not be misinterpreted to mean that Nigeria has overcome.

Mustapha, who is also the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), said the government has over time ramped up testing but there was more to be done to raise the quantum of test per million.

He said an analysis showed that five states still account for 60 per cent of cumulative cases and 689 out of the 774 local government areas (LGAs) have reported at least one case.

The PTF chairman decried that 85 LGAs in 20 states remain with no testing done and no case reported while 50 per cent of all the cases were in 20 per cent of the nation’s LGAs.

He insisted that Nigeria has yet to reach the peak of the pandemic but noted that the PTF was happy that many survivors were telling their stories and sharing them on social media.

Mustapha believes the stories of those who he said doubted the existence of the virus and became infected and are now expressing appreciation for the timely intervention of the case management team, have provided compelling proof that the virus is real.

He, therefore, called on the people to continue to observe all existing measures towards curbing the further spread of the disease in the country.