19 persons killed by Covid-19 in one day as infections nears 20,000

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has announced 661 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 19, 808.

Nineteen deaths were recorded from the virus on Saturday bringing the total number of confirmed deaths from the virus to 506.

There was a slight drop in the number of confirmed cases reported Saturday evening (661) compared to what was reported on Friday (667).

The health agency in a tweet Saturday evening said the new cases were reported in 14 states.

These are Lagos, Rivers, Delta, FCT, Oyo, Edo, Bayelsa, Kaduna, Plateau, Ondo, Nasarawa,Ekiti Kano and Borno.

Rivers State recorded its highest daily number of confirmed cases yet, with 127 cases on Saturday.

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

In the past few days, reported cases in Edo, FCT, Rivers Oyo, and Delta have been increasing rapidly.

As of the time of reporting, 35 states and the FCT have recorded at least a case of the disease. Only one state, Cross River, is yet to report any case of the virus.

Lagos recorded its highest daily figure of the infection and remains the epicentre for the disease in the country.

According to NCDC, the 661 new cases are reported from 14 states- Lagos – 230, Rivers – 127, Delta – 83 FCT – 60, Oyo – 51, Edo – 31, Bayelsa – 27, Kaduna – 25, Plateau – 13, Ondo – 6, Nasarawa – 3, Ekiti – 2, Kano – 2 and Borno – 1.

“Till date, 19808 cases have been confirmed, 6718 cases have been discharged and 506 deaths have been recorded in 35 states and the Federal Capital Territory,“ it stated.