Coronavirus: Nigeria records 123 new cases

Nigeria on Saturday reported 123 new cases of coronavirus infection, raising the number of confirmed cases in the country to 169,329.

In an update on its Facebook page, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), said the new cases on Saturday were recorded in seven states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Lagos once again topped the infection chart with 70 cases out of the 123 reported.

Akwa Ibom recorded 18, Ogun recorded 10, while Oyo and Rivers reported eight infections each.

Also, the FCT and Ekiti State registered four infections each while Bayelsa reported one.

Meanwhile, no new death was recorded from the disease on Saturday as the fatality toll stands at 2,126, the update showed.

The NCDC data also noted that a total of 164,672 recoveries have so far been made across the country while more than 2,000 cases are said to be active.

Nigeria has tested over 2.3 million samples for COVID-19 out of the country’s roughly 200 million population.

Almost four million Nigerians have received their first doses of the coronavirus vaccines.

‘Red Alert’

Meanwhile, the Nigerian government has said it is not leaving any stone unturned in its efforts to avert the imminent third wave of the pandemic.

With the emergence of the dreaded Delta variant of the infection in the country and the rising number of cases and hospitalisation, the government on Sunday morning issued a red alert in six states of the federation and the FCT.

The affected states, which are spread across four of the country’s six geopolitical zones of South-west, South-south, North-West and North-central are Lagos, Oyo, Rivers, Kaduna, Kano, Plateau and the nation’s capital, FCT.

The NCDC has described the new development as worrisome, urging Nigerians to observe all pandemic-related protocols put in place by the government to curb the spread of the infections.