NCDC: 1,617 new COVID cases, 14 deaths — over 80 fatalities in one week

As Nigeria battles a second wave of coronavirus infections, the weekly count of deaths has increased significantly.

Within the past week — between January 12 and 18 – the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has recorded 86 deaths across the country, with 14 new fatalities confirmed on Monday.

The latest weekly fatality figure is exactly double that of the previous week, when 43 deaths were confirmed between January 5 and 11, 2021.

A total of 1,449 persons have now died of COVID-19 complications in Nigeria.

The NCDC confirmed the new fatalities in its update for January 18, 2021, just as 1,617 fresh infections were recorded in 17 states and the federal capital territory (FCT).

Lagos (776), Kaduna (147), and Kwara (131) were the three states with the highest number of positive samples confirmed on Monday, while Borno had the least figure with two fresh infections.

NCDC also recorded 622 new recoveries, increasing the total number of discharged patients to 89,939.

The country has now confirmed 112,004 coronavirus infections, but 20,616 are currently active cases.

1,617 new cases of #COVID19Nigeria;

Lagos-776
Kaduna-147
Kwara-131
FCT-102
Plateau-78
Edo-59
Ogun-53
Osun-45
Rivers-37
Taraba-36
Nasarawa-34
Adamawa-33
Kano-26
Delta-20
Ebonyi-16
Bayelsa-11
Gombe-11
Borno-2

112,004 confirmed
89,939 discharged
1,449 deaths pic.twitter.com/mXAJHlCEhw

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— NCDC (@NCDCgov) January 18, 2021

Meanwhile, Chikwe Ihekweazu, director-general of the NCDC, has called for improved private sector participation to increase testing capacity — Nigeria has currently tested close to 1.1 million samples.

Speaking at the media briefing of the presidential task force (PTF) on COVID-19 on Monday, the NCDC DG said within the past seven days, more than 100,000 samples were tested —  the highest weekly figure in over 10 months since the country recorded its index case in February 2020.

“Between January 2020 and 2021, we activated COVID-19 testing in 112 laboratories across the country. Last week, 100,000 samples were tested in a single week, which is the highest since the onset of the outbreak. We have continued to intensify the response activities,” Ihekweazu said.

“Thirty percent of over one million COVID-19 tests carried out in Nigeria were in private labs. The public sector bears majority of the testing burden.

“We’ve developed a framework for effective private sector engagement. More private sector involvement is critical in the response.”