Nigeria, on Friday, documented 10 more deaths from the COVID-19, bringing the total rate of death in the past few days to 26, and raising the total fatalities in the country to 1,813.
According to the National Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, the country on Friday recorded 662 new infections, bringing the total infections in the country to 150,908.
However, more than two-thirds of the over 150,000 people infected by COVID-19 in Nigeria have recovered after treatment.
The country’s record of cases of the virus, since the beginning of the second wave of the COVID-19 in December last year, has increased, resulting in an average of over 1,000 cases documented daily since January 2021.
Despite these figures, experts believe that these numbers do not reflect the full picture of the outbreak in the country. They say low testing in many states across the country means infections have been under-reported, a situation considered the biggest challenge in the nation’s management of the outbreak.
A recent general fact sheet published by the NCDC further exposed the gulf in testing for COVID-19 in Kogi and many other states.
Over two-thirds of the over 150,000 people infected by COVID-19 in Nigeria have recovered after treatment.
The figure indicates the level of success the country’s health professionals have recorded in containing the virus.
According to NCDC data published Friday night, a total of 127,500 have recovered after treatment
It is however, not clear if those who recover from a viral infection often develop immunity against the same disease. That remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, about 21,000 infections are still active in the country.
The 662 new cases were reported from 23 states – Lagos (167), FCT (116), Ogun (45), Kano (44), Akwa Ibom (35), Edo (34), Rivers (27), Kaduna (23), Osun (23), Kwara (22), Taraba (22), Oyo (20), Ondo (19), Plateau (14), Abia (11), Imo (11), Nasarawa (7), Niger (6), Bayelsa (5), Delta (5), Enugu (3), Ekiti (2), and Jigawa (1).
Lagos had the highest toll in Friday’s tally with 167 new cases followed by FCT and Ogun with 116 and 45 infections respectively.
On the whole, since the outbreak of the pandemic, Nigeria has carried out over 1.3 million tests.