COVID-19: NCDC Reports 339 New Cases, Total Infections Exceed 7,000

The total confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Nigeria rises to 7,016 on Thursday, after 339 new infections were announced by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

Eleven new patients have been confirmed dead to the virus in the country, bringing the total number of fatalities in the country to 211
The health agency explained that most of the fatalities recorded from COVID-19 were cases with other underlying illnesses known as co-morbidities.

There was a slight increase in the number of infections reported on Thursday 339 compared to the number reported on Wednesday 284.

All the reporting states already had at least a case of the virus.

The agency in a tweet late on Thursday evening said the 339 new cases were reported in 17 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
These are Lagos, Kano, Oyo, Edo, Katsina, Kaduna, Jigawa, Yobe, Plateau, FCT, Gombe, Ogun, Bauchi, Nasarawa, Delta, Ondo, Rivers and Adamawa.

Lagos, the epicenter of the virus in Nigeria, had the highest number of infections for the day with 139 cases.

Kano reported 28 cases of the virus, 28 in Oyo, 25 in Edo, 22 in Katsina, 18 in Kaduna, 14 in Jigawa, 13 in Yobe, 13 in Plateau, 11 in FCT, 8 in Gombe, 5 in Ogun, 4 in Bauchi, 4 in Nasarawa, 3 in Delta, 2 in Ondo, 1 in Rivers and 1 in Adamawa

On the 21st of May 2020, 339 new confirmed cases and 9 deaths were recorded in Nigeria
No new state has reported a case in the last 24 hours.
Till date, 7016 cases have been confirmed, 1907 cases have been discharged and 211 deaths have been recorded in 34 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

A breakdown of cases by state can be found via https://t.co/Z5x7UFXpXd#TakeResponsibility pic.twitter.com/B8GEVGnE02

— NCDC (@NCDCgov) May 21, 2020

Meanwhile the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, says various isolation centres across the state would start giving priority to people with severe COVID-19 cases, while mild cases will be managed at home.

He said the development became necessary as the state is now at the active community transmission stage, having almost exhausted its available bed spaces after the containment phase.

“We have exceeded the containment phase now. We are at the active community transmission stage.
“We will be concentrating on people with severe cases and isolating them, while mild cases will be managed at home.

“Our attention is shifting to community-based isolation,” he said.

Showing concerns on the recent statistics of COVID-19 cases released on Wednesday night, Abayomi said out of the 284 new cases announced by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Lagos recorded 199.

Recently, Abayomi had disclosed how Lagos increased the capacity of its eight isolation centres to accommodate 547 bed spaces as the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 rises in the state.

Giving an update on the number of isolation centres in the state during the briefing, the commissioner listed the various isolation centres currently in the state and their bed capacities.

“Gbagada General Hospital – 118; Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi- Araba – 60; Infectious Disease Hospital, Yaba – 115; Onikan Stadium Centre – 100; Landmark Centre – 70; Lekki Centre – 45; Agidingbi Centre – 34; and First Cardiology – 5 (for critical care).”

May 21, 2020