Nigeria records highest daily COVID-19 cases in 6 months

ABUJA: Nigeria recorded on Wednesday one death and 790 new cases of Covid-19, the highest daily figure recorded in the country in about six months, according to official data released on Thursday.

This brings the total number of the caseload in Africa’s most populous country to 179,908 and the fatality toll to 2,195, according to the data from the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC).

The new cases on Wednesday were recorded in 13 states across the country, including the federal capital territory, the NCDC said in the daily update on Thursday.

Nigeria has been grappling with the more deadly Delta strain of the Coronavirus discovered in the country since early July.

Amid an ongoing industrial action by resident doctors in the country, Health Minister Osagie Ehanire said at a press conference on Monday that local authorities were making efforts to intensify surveillance, as well as “avoid a situation whereby the health system will be overwhelmed.”

Ehanire said the government is engaging resident doctors with a view to quickly resolving the issues.

The country is currently expanding vaccine sources in order to meet the target of vaccinating 70 percent of its population by 2022.

Nigeria received in early March the first batch of near 4 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine through the COVAX facility. On August 2, the country took delivery of 4 million doses of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine donated by the United States through the COVAX facility.

The country expects to receive up to 40 million doses of vaccine by the end of the year, said Ehanire at a press conference in early August.

The NCDC data show that 166,203 cases have been discharged since the onset of the pandemic in Nigeria in early 2020. (Xinhua)