Coronavirus cases in Nigeria rise to 111

NCDC DG Chikwe Ihekweazu

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on Sunday night confirmed 14 new cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in the country, with nine reported in Lagos State and five in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The NCDC, via Twitter, said that as at 9:30p.m, there were 111 confirmed cases of COVID-19 pandemic reported in Nigeria with one death recorded.

It said: “Currently, Lagos has 68; Abuja- 21, Ogun– Three, Ekiti– one, Oyo– Seven, Osun- Two , Enugu– Two, Edo– Two, Bauchi-Two, while Benue, Kaduna and Rivers have one case respectively.”

Also, the World Health Organisation (WHO), said “there are 3,956 confirmed COVID-19 cases across 46 countries on the African continent with a total of 248 recoveries and 111 deaths reported.”

Meanwhile, the Director-General of NCDC, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, told NAN in Abuja, that the centre was working hard to expand its testing capacity for the pandemic in the country.

Ihekweazu said that currently there were six molecular functional laboratories in the country with the capacity to test for COVID-19 and the Lassa fever outbreak.

“We aim to scale up to 13 laboratories in the next three weeks. In progress are : Abakaliki, Maiduguri, Kano, Sokoto, Port-Harcourt, Jos and Kaduna State,” he said.