Coronavirus: Nigeria records highest cases tally in 6 months amid Delta variant worries

The Nigerian Center for Disease Control (NCDC) has said the country is averaging more than 700 cases of the novel coronavirus delta variant daily.

The health agency said on its official website on Thursday morning that the country registered 790 additional cases, a drastic increase from the 610 cases registered on Wednesday, August 11, 2021.

Recall that owing to a sudden surge, driven by the highly transmissible Delta variant, the country’s average daily COVID-19 cases showed that Wednesday’s increase was the highest since February.

The surge resulted in the federal government calling on citizens to take responsibility and adhere to preventive measures in the country, especially as the caseload keeps rising on the heels of ongoing doctors’ strike, reports Daily Post.

Three die from Delta variant of COVID-19 in Akwa Ibom

The NCDC noted that states nationwide were struggling to curb the spread of the Delta variant, with the situation becoming alarming, particularly in Lagos, Akwa-Ibom, Rivers, Oyo states and the FCT, where the strain was accounting for a large number of the cases.

Due to the spread, NCDC observed that Lagos state set a new record for COVID-19 on Wednesday with 574 cases, and infections in Rivers state jumped to 83, Ondo-38, Ogun-31, Oyo-23, Delta-10, the FCT-9, Ekiti-7, Edo-6, Osun-4.

Anambra and Bayelsa recorded 2 cases each and Plateau-1, while three states, Kano, Nasarawa and Sokoto, reported zero cases, NCDC said.

One new death was also recorded on Wednesday, bringing the nation’s fatality count, since the start of the pandemic, to 2,195.