NIGERIA recorded 53 deaths from COVID-19 over the past 24 hours, which brings the country’s total deaths to 2,361, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
The death toll is the highest fatalities to be recorded in a day since the outset of the pandemic last year.
According to the data, there are 5,159 active cases of COVID-19 out of a total of 10, 575 cases recorded across the country, while active cases dropped from 18,210 to 10,575.
It also added that the figure of the discharged patients, which stands at 178,047, also includes the backlog of data from Lagos for the period of August 4 to 28.
Also, there is a significant reduction in the number of active cases in Nigeria from more than 17,000 cases a few days ago to 10,575 on Saturday.
The current data shows the country should be prepared for a third wave of the pandemic, though, the health agency didn’t explain the reason for the drop in the number of active cases.
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The disease centre noted that a total of 178,047 persons who had the disease at one time or the other have received treatment, physically at accredited facilities or remotely, and have successfully been discharged.
Also, the NCDC disclosed that a total of 650 new infections were confirmed across 16 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Lagos State had the highest figure of 261 new cases on Saturday, followed by Ondo State with 95 new cases and Rivers State with 80.
Akwa Ibom recorded 59 cases to rank fourth, followed by two South-west states, Oyo and Ekiti, with 24 and 22 cases respectively.
The data further shows two South-south states, Delta and Edo, closely following each other with 20 and 18 cases respectively while Enugu in the South-east recorded 15 cases and Bayelsa in the South-south recorded 14.
Ogun State, which is situated close to Nigeria’s coronavirus epicentre, Lagos registered 11 cases on Saturday while Kaduna State reported eight cases, Plateau State, seven and Kano State, six.
The FCT followed with five cases, Gombe recorded three cases while Abia State recorded the lowest figure of two cases.
Amos Abba is a journalist with the International Center for Investigative Reporting, ICIR, who believes that courageous investigative reporting is the key to social justice and accountability in the society.