Nigeria records 118 new COVID-19 infections

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has confirmed 118 new coronavirus infections in nine states and the federal capital territory.

The new cases, which were confirmed in the agency’s update for October 19, 2020, represented a slight decrease from the figure on Sunday, when 133 new cases were recorded.

Lagos was first on the list of states with 51 new positive samples, while Rivers followed with 26 cases, and Imo recorded the third most cases for Monday with 12 infections.

However, after nine deaths recorded within the past 72 hours, no new fatality was confirmed on Monday, leaving the current toll at 1,125.

With 86 people discharged on Monday, the number of total recoveries has now risen to 56,697.

The country is gradually inching close to 600,000 tested samples, out of which 61,558 have been confirmed positive, but 3,736 are still active infections.

118 new cases of #COVID19Nigeria;

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Lagos-51
Rivers-26
Imo-12
Osun-8
Plateau-6
FCT-5
Kaduna-4
Ogun-3
Edo-2
Niger-1

61,558 confirmed
56,697 discharged
1,125 deaths pic.twitter.com/1ASkJHzg8G

— NCDC (@NCDCgov) October 19, 2020

Meanwhile, the presidential task force (PTF) on COVID-19 has called for extra caution, especially considering the drop in the daily count of new cases across the country.

Since October 1, Nigeria has recorded less than 3,000 new cases, while more than 6,000 patients have recovered, and 13 deaths have been recorded so far.

But according to Boss Mustapha, secretary to the government of the federation and chairman of the PTF, now is the time for Nigerians to be more cautious in order to prevent a second wave of infections.

“Indications are that Nigeria appears to be winning the war against COVID-19. The PTF has, however, adopted an approach of cautious optimism and shall encourage Nigerians to do same in view of the observed level of risk perception, skepticism, and general non-compliance with the non-pharmaceutical interventions,” Mustapha said at a media briefing on Monday.