Nigeria confirms 501 new coronavirus cases as Niger Speaker, Clerk test positive

Chidi Samuel| Nigeria on Sunday confirmed 501 new cases of #COVID19 bringing the country’s toll 78, 434.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control in a statement via its verified Twitter handle said the new infections were recorded in 15 states and the FCT.

According to the health agency, Lagos recorded 218 new cases, followed by FCT-112, Kaduna-53, and Plateau-24.

Other states with new infections include, Katsina-21, Kano-16, Yobe-14, Ondo-10, Ogun-9, Edo-7, Bayelsa-5, Rivers-4, Borno-4, Osun-2, and Ekiti-2.

The NCDC further revealed that so far 68,303 persons have recovered from the disease with 1,221 deaths recorded.

-Speaker, Clerk of Niger State assembly test positive for coronavirus

Meanwhile, the speaker of Niger State House of Assembly, Abdullahi Bawa, and the clerk of the House, Abdullahi Kagara have tested positive for Coronavirus.

Both the Speaker and Clerk have since gone into self-isolation.

The Commissioner of Information in the State, Muhammed Idris, who confirmed the development, said the results of the COVID-19 test of the Speaker and the Clerk came in on Sunday, and they both turned out positive.

According to him the results of other members of the house are still being awaited but they have all gone into self-isolation.

“We are yet to receive other results. But for now, many of us are in self-isolation,” Baba said.

The official report from the State’s Emergency Operation Centre however shows that Niger State currently has 311 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 12 deaths so far recorded.

The state government in response to the second wave of COVID-19 announced the closure of schools in the state as from Monday 21, December, while all civil servants are to stay at home beginning from the same date.