Chidi Samuel| Nigeria on Monday confirms 245 new coronavirus infections bringing the country’s toll 2802.
This is against the backdrop of a warning by Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, the director-general of the NCDC that the country will witness an increase in the number of new infections following the refusal of Nigerians to comply with the agency’s guidelines to curb the spread of the virus.
According to the Nigeria Centr For Disease Control, Lagos the epicentre of the outbreak in Nigeria recorded 76 new cases, with Katsina and Jigawa recording 37 and 32 new cases respectively.
The remaining infections were recorded in Kano 23, FCT 19, Bornu 18, Edo 10, Bauch 8, Adamawa 6, Oyo 5, Ogun 5, Ekiti, Osun, Benue, Niger and Zamfara recorded 1 case each.
The health agency further reported that that so far, 2802 cases has been reported in Nigeria with 417 discharges and 93 deaths.
The agency said, ”245 new cases of #COVID19;
76-Lagos
37-Katsina
32-Jigawa
23-Kano
19-FCT
18-Borno
10-Edo
9-Bauchi
6-Adamawa
5-Oyo
5-Ogun
1-Ekiti
1-Osun
1-Benue
1-Niger
1-Zamfara
”2802 confirmed cases of #COVID19 in Nigeria.”
Discharged: 417
Deaths: 93
-NCDC warns about a possible explosion in the number of new cases.
Earlier on Monday, the director general of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Chike Ihekweazu warned that the country stands the risks of witnessing a rise in the number of new infections following reports of people flouting the COVID-19 guidelines recomended by the agency.
The NCDC boss further warned that government maybe forced to reintroduce the lockdowns eased in Ogun, Lagos, and FCT if the number number of infections continues to rise.
He said, “It is not the guidelines per se, it is the thinking behind it. How do we want to manage the risk of explosion and transmission? Today, we might forgive a little bite because it is the first day.”
“We will have infection because of what happened today, no doubt about that. But how can we learn from the mistakes of today into tomorrow, next tomorrow so by Friday hopefully we have normalised some of these things.
“Yes, we knew today would be a problem because for the first time, people were let out of their homes but now they are out and we have seen the sunlight again, the challenge for us as a society is how do we now organise ourselves to mitigate these risks and limit transmission?
“We might have a few extra infections today and tomorrow but what we don’t want is an explosion of new infections. If we do have that infection, there will be almost no choice left for the leadership of the country than to ask all of us to go back into our homes. So for the benefit of coming out to reopen parts of the economy, there is a price to pay which is to reorganise ourselves to do this safely.”
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