Coronavirus: Nigeria records three deaths, 565 new cases Friday

In a trend that began on Monday, Nigeria on Friday recorded three additional fatalities from COVID-19 complications, raising the total deaths in four days to 32.

A total of 565 new cases were also recorded within the last 24 hours, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) said in an update on its Facebook page Friday night.

According to the update, the new infection figure raised Nigeria’s total infections to 177,142 while the fatality toll stands at 2,181.

The increase in deaths and infections has been attributed to the fast spreading Delta variant of the disease, and experts are of the opinion that the situation could get worse if an ongoing doctors’ strike continues and Nigerians don’t adjust their lifestyles.

The nationwide strike by the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) entered the sixth day on Saturday with services paralysed in tertiary hospitals across the country.

Resident doctors constitute the largest percentage of physicians manning Nigeria’s health facilities.

About 16 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) contributed to Friday’s 565 new cases.

The NCDC data revealed that Lagos, the epicentre of the disease, recorded the lion share with 348 new infections.

Rivers State came second on the chart with 70 cases while Akwa Ibom State followed with 45 and Oyo State ranked fourth with 36 cases.

The FCT recorded 24 while Ekiti State recorded 15 infections, and Kwara and Ogun States reported seven new cases each.

Gombe State reported three cases while Anambra and Kaduna reported two cases each.

Bayelsa, Cross River, Edo, Plateau, Kano and Sokoto states recorded the lowest figure of one infection each.

Meanwhile, according to the NCDC data, of the over 177,000 total cases, 165,409 people have recovered and have been discharged from hospitals across the country.

The centre added that Nigeria has tested more than 2.5 million samples out of its estimated 200 million population.

Active cases in Nigeria have jumped to 9,066, according to the NCDC.