IN Nigeria, there were more Coronavirus infections last week compared to cases recorded in previous weeks. Last week alone, according to data from the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC), confirmed COVID-19 infections increased by 3,135 new cases; unlike 2,630 cases recorded in Nigeria two weeks ago (from Sunday, August 9 to Saturday, August 15). With this, from a total of 48,770 confirmed cases two weeks ago, Nigeria now has 51,905 cases (as at Saturday, August 22).
Also last week, data from NCDC also showed that 23 people died as a result of complications arising from COVID-19 infection in Nigeria; while 2,477 cases were discharged after they had recovered from their illness – less than the figure posted the week before. Two weeks ago, 2,954 patients were discharged within a period of seven days across the country. As at August 22, with 38,767 people discharged after recovering from their infection, total number of confirmed cases in Nigeria stood at 51,905. Over the last six months, the country has recorded 997 deaths so far, with a total of 374,077 tests carried out as of August 22. However, there are still over 12, 000 active cases in the country.
In Africa, there appears to be a glimmer of hope as average daily COVID-19 cases in the continent fell from 11,000 to slightly above 10,000 last week. So far, Africa has recorded over 1,147,369 cases, more than half of which are in South Africa, and about 26,000 deaths. Clearly, South Africa leads in the continent in both the number of tests conducted and positive cases. According to experts, recorded cases and deaths are relatively low in Africa compared to Europe, Latin America and the United States, which alone has more than 5,500,000 cases.
Currently, South Africa has over 600,000 cases of COVID-19 – more than half the cases across Africa and the fifth-most cases in the world. Although South Africa’s cases have been falling to an average daily infection of 5,000, there were more than 12,000 daily confirmed new cases at its peak. Coming second on African Coronavirus table is Egypt, ranking 31st place in the world with over 97,000 cases.
Despite recording an increase in confirmed cases last week, Nigeria remains number three in the continent in terms of number of confirmed cases. On Saturday August 22, Nigeria had 601 new confirmed cases and 1 death. This was Nigeria highest daily figure of confirmed COVID-19 cases in nearly two months, as the previous highest daily cases (745 cases) were recorded on June 19. The 601 new cases were reported in 21 states: Lagos (404), FCT (37), Oyo (19), Ondo (14), Abia (13), Enugu (13), Kaduna (13), Edo (12), Kano (12), Kwara (11), Ebonyi (10), Nasarawa (7), Ogun (6), Osun (5), Delta (5), Niger (5), Plateau (4), Bayelsa (4), Katsina (3), Ekiti (2), and Imo (2). The day also witnessed a huge harvest of recoveries, with 882 people discharged after recovering from their illness – the highest daily figure recorded last week.
On Friday August 21, three hundred and forty (340) confirmed cases were reported in Nigeria. The cases were recorded in 19 states: Kaduna (63), FCT (51), Plateau (38), Lagos (33), Delta (25), Gombe (21), Adamawa (21), Edo (20), Katsina (17), Akwa Ibom (11), Ekiti (10), Rivers (9), Ondo (5), Ebonyi (4), Cross River (3), Ogun (3), Sokoto (2), Imo (2) and Nasarawa (2). Also last week, three hundred and sixteen (316) discharges were reported in 16 states: Borno (54), Plateau (53), Kaduna (47), Kano (45), Adamawa (36), Lagos (28), Akwa Ibom (12), FCT (11), Ebonyi (10), Ekiti (6), Edo (5), Ogun (3), Rivers (2), Osun (2), Gombe (1) and Bayelsa (1). Also, four deaths were reported in two states: Adamawa (3) and Ogun (1).
With 476 cases, there were more confirmed infections on Thursday August 20 than Friday August 21. The four hundred and seventy-six (476) confirmed cases were reported in 18 states: Lagos (235), FCT (44), Kaduna (41), Borno (33), Plateau (28), Abia (13), Edo (13), Rivers (12), Imo (11), Oyo (10), Kano (9), Kwara (7), Enugu (5), Katsina (5), Gombe (4), Ogun (4), Nasarawa (1) and Zamfara (1). In terms of recoveries, two hundred and sixty-five (265) people were discharged on Thursday August 20. The recoveries were reported in 14 states: Osun (112), Kaduna (37), Kwara (24), FCT (18), Ogun (16), Borno (15), Edo (12), Oyo (10), Rivers (9), Imo (7), Yobe (2), Gombe (1), Lagos (1) and Zamfara (1). Sadly, seven (7) deaths were reported on the same day in three states: Plateau (4), Osun (2) and Enugu (1).
The figure of new cases also went higher on Wednesday August 19, as five hundred and ninety-three (593) confirmed cases were reported in 16 states. The infections were recorded in Plateau (186), Lagos (172), FCT (62), Oyo (27), Delta (25), Rivers (20), Ondo (19), Edo (18), Kaduna (17), Enugu (12), Akwa Ibom (10), Ogun (7), Abia (6), Gombe (6), Kano (3) and Osun (3). While two hundred and fifty-three (253) discharges were reported in 12 states: Delta (57), Plateau (49), Osun (29), Ebonyi (28), Gombe (15), Kaduna (15), Ogun (15), Rivers (15), FCT (13), Edo (10), Kwara (6) and Bayelsa (1), four (4) deaths were reported in three states: Delta (2), Abia (1) and Enugu (1) on the same day.
The new cases were however lower on Tuesday August 18, when compared with what happened on Wednesday and Thursday (August 20 and 19). On August 18, four hundred and ten (410) confirmed cases were reported in 16 states: Lagos (210), FCT (45), Ondo (30), Plateau (21), Edo (19), Ogun (16), Oyo (13), Nasarawa (12), Bauchi (11), Enugu (10), Kwara (7), Kaduna (6), Anambra (4), Ebonyi (3), Abia (2) and Rivers (1). On the day, two hundred and seventeen (217) discharges were also reported in 14 states: Plateau (57), Rivers (33), Osun (32), Ogun (18), Edo (15), Ebonyi (15), Kaduna (13), Lagos (9), FCT (8), Ekiti (6), Kwara (5), Adamawa (4), Ondo (1) and Bauchi (1). There were also four (4) deaths reported in four states: Rivers (1), Ekiti (1), Ondo (1) and Oyo (1).
On Monday August 17, Nigeria recorded four hundred and seventeen (417) confirmed cases in 17 states. The cases were recorded in Lagos (207), Kaduna (44), Ondo (38), Abia (28), Anambra (21), Plateau (20), Bauchi (13), Ebonyi (9), Oyo (9), Delta (7), Edo (7), Enugu (6), Niger (3), Gombe (2), FCT (1), Kano (1) and Ogun (1). Three hundred and thirty-seven (337) discharges were also reported in 15 states: Oyo (73), Plateau (54), Enugu (40), Abia (33), Osun (29), Anambra (28), Lagos (20), FCT (16), Edo (11), Rivers (10), Kaduna (7), Kano (7), Ebonyi (6), Bayelsa (2) and Ogun (1); while two (2) deaths were reported in two states: Ondo (1) and Plateau (1).
The lowest infection cases of the week were recorded on Sunday August 16. On that day, Nigeria recorded two hundred and ninety-eight (298) confirmed cases in 16 states: Plateau (108), Kaduna (49), Lagos (47), Ogun (18), Osun (17), FCT (15), Ondo (14), Edo (8), Oyo (6), Akwa Ibom (4), Cross River (4), Borno (3), Ekiti (2), Bauchi (1), Kano (1) and Rivers (1). In terms of recoveries, Nigeria had two hundred and seven (207) people discharged in 11 states: Oyo (51), Kaduna (49), Kwara (48), Edo (20), Adamawa (15), Ogun (10), Ekiti (5), FCT (5), Rivers (2), Akwa Ibom (1) and Plateau (1), while the day’s only one took place in Ogun
