…As Confirmed Cases Hit 4,151

Nigeria on May 4, 2020 began a phased easing of anti-Coronavirus restriction, amid rising cases of #COVID19 in the country, which worsened since the easing of state lockdown ordered by the Federal Government as part of measures to stop the spread of the pandemic.

Of great concern to many is the increasing cases of confirmed Coronavirus infection in Northern part of the country, particularly among the  Almajiris in the region. Almajiri is a Hausa, which colloquially refers to any young person who begs on the streets to earn a living and does not attend secular school.

Last night, Nigeria reported 239 new COVID-19 cases, increasing the total number of infections in the country to 4,151 cases, The Street Reporters Newspaper reports.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control confirmed the new cases in a tweet on Saturday night.

According to the agency, 97 of the cases were in Lagos, 44 in Bauchi, 29 in Kano, and 19 in Katsina.

Borno States had 17 cases, the Federal Capital Territory had seven cases, Kwara had six, Oyo had five, while Kaduna, Sokoto and Adamawa states had three cases each.

Kebbi, Ogun, and Plateau states each had two cases, while Ekiti had one new case.

Full details of the 239 new cases are:  97 in Lagos, 44 in Bauchi, 29 in Kano, 19 in Katsina, 17 in Borno, 7 in FCT, 6 in Kwara, 5 in Oyo, 3 in Kaduna, 3 in Sokoto, 2 in Adamawa, 2 in Kebbi, 2 in Plateau, 2 in Ogun, and 1 in Ekiti.

The total confirmed cases in Nigeria rose to 4151 cases with rising cases of discharged patients which is now 745, and number of deaths rising to 128.

On Friday, the country had recorded 386 new cases of #COVID19, 176 new cases recorded in Lagos, 65 in Kano, 31 in Katsina, 20 in FCT, 17 in Borno, 15 in Bauchi, 14in Nasarawa, 13 in Ogun, 10 in Plateau, 4 in Oyo, 4 in Sokoto, 4 in Rivers, 3 in Kaduna, 2 in Edo, 2 in Ebonyi, 2 in Ondo, 1 each in Enugu, Imo, Gombe, and Osun states.

The rising cases of Coronavirus continued from last Friday to 3912 total cases of #COVID19, with 679 discharged cases and 117 Covid19 deaths.

On Thursday, Nigeria recorded 381 new cases of #COVID19 and 4 new deaths, with Lagos state maintaining the lead with 183 new cases. 55 new cases were confirmed in Kano, while 44 infections were recorded in Jigawa, with Zamfara and Bauchi states had 19 new cases.

Katsina had 11 new cases, Borno recorded 9, and 8 in Kwara, 7 in Kaduna, 6 in Gombe, 4 in Sokoto, 1 in Plateau, and 2 in Niger.

Aside Lagos other South West states had 5 in Ogun and 3 in Oyo, with South-South hsd 3 in Rivers and  a single case in Akwa Ibom.

South East had a single new case in Enugu on Thursday.

As at Thursday night, 3526 cases of #COVID19 have been confirmed in Nigeria, with discharged cases numbering 601 and recorded death so far rising to 107.

However, Nigerian authorities are still battling with lack of adequate testing kits with infections gradually creeping into communities.

The swelling figures of infected persons came from few testing carried out in the country. Though the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control has continued to place emphasis of testing individuals who have shown symptoms of the virus and contacts of confirmed cases as well as those who had travel history to epicentres of COVID19, there are fears in some quarters in the country that the figures are higher than reported.

However, there are others who still believe that the figures are not real as they insist that the government is inflating the figures of infection to attract donations and allocation of funds by the federal government and international donors.

In view of the rising cases of Coronavirus, it is therefore needful that the federal governments and non-governmental organisations increase enlightenment campaign to create more awareness of the reality and facts about the pandemic.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in response to the rising cases of COVID19 said its National EOC was at a meeting “to carry out a review of the #COVID19 response in Nigeria so far.

“This meeting will enable us to assess current performance level, identify areas to strengthen and develop future strategy for #COVID19 in Nigeria.”

In the Federal Capital Territory, the NCDC worked with the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) to set up #COVID19 sample collection centres as part of community-level testing, saying that “Through active case finding, we are implementing our strategy to rapidly detect new cases, isolate and manage them to recovery.”

Also, the NCDC Rapid Response Teams is working with State Ministries of Health across Nigeria to strengthen #COVID19 response capacity. the centre said in a tweet. 

As part of its enlightenment against stigmatisation, the NCDC advised that “If government officials come to your area to identify contacts of confirmed #COVID19 cases, please don’t discriminate against those visited It is important to quickly test & treat patients to avoid further spread of the disease”

In its effort to increase testing capacity amid rising cases of the pandemic in the country, the NCDC on Sunday that two new labs have been included in our molecular laboratory network for #COVID19 have been established in Port Harcourt and an PCR laboratory in Benin, increasing the number of labs in Nigeria with the capacity to test for #COVID19 to 23. 

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