Anew variant of COVID-19 has been detected in Nigeria and 15 other countries as more COVID-19 deaths were recorded on Monday, with Lagos recording 15 of the 23 reported throughout Nigeria.
Director-General, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Chikwe Ihekweazu announced the finding at Monday’s joint briefing of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19.
Meanwhile, the national death toll jumped to 1862, from 1839 on Sunday, deaths in Lagos now totalled 399.
According to NCDC data, the other eight deaths reported on Monday occurred in FCT Abuja, Kano, Osun, Kwara and Sokoto.
Osun recorded three fatalities to increase its death toll to 48.
The FCT death toll also crept to 142, with two new deaths.
Kano, Sokoto and Kwara recorded one fatality each.
Kano, the most populated state in northern Nigeria, now has a death toll of 103, the fifth highest after Lagos 399, Edo 158, FCT 142, Oyo 106.
While more victims of the virus are dying, confirmed cases appeared to have plateaued, for the fifth day running.
After February 16, when cases hit 1,572, the numbers have been tumbling down ever since.
While on 17 February, 869 cases were recorded, on 18 February, the figure marginally went up to 877.
On February 19, the cases recorded reduced to 662 and on 20 February, the cases fell to 645.
Cases marginally also increased from 521 on Sunday to 542 on Monday.
The NCDC also reported 681 new recoveries, taking the discharged to 129,300.
Here is a breakdown of the cases for Monday 22 February:
Lagos-99
Kwara-91
Ebonyi-48
Ogun-44
Kaduna-42
Oyo-33
Ondo-25
FCT-24
Kebbi-23
Osun-20
Ekiti-17
Nasarawa-12
Imo-11
Delta-10
Gombe-9
Kano-8
Katsina-7
Rivers-7
Edo-5
Plateau-4
Bauchi-3
152,616 confirmed
129,300 discharged
1,862 deaths
