Lagos, Rivers top list as NCDC confirms 536 new COVID cases

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) reported 536 new positive samples of coronavirus on Saturday, raising the tally to 242,877 infections.

The latest COVID-19 cases were recorded in 12 states and the federal capital territory (FCT), according to the agency’s update for January 1, 2022.

Lagos, which has continued to remain the epicentre of the pandemic, topped the infection chart with 259 new cases, closely followed by Rivers with 90 infections, and Oyo with 46 positive samples.

Other states that recorded new cases are Edo (43), Kaduna (29), FCT (25), Cross River (12), Nasarawa (10), Osun (6), Gombe (5), Kano (5), Ogun (5) and Jigawa (1).

The agency, however, said the cases reported include a backlog of 58 infections from Rivers state for December 31, 2021.

The NCDC said 482 patients were discharged on Saturday after recovering from the infection.

According to the agency, the recoveries include a backlog of 122 discharged patients from Rivers state.

With the new figure, a total of 214,778 patients have so far recovered from COVID-19 in Nigeria.

Two persons were confirmed to have died of coronavirus complications on Saturday, raising the death toll to 3,033.