The number of COVID-19 positive persons in Nigeria has gone beyond 1000 as the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) yesterday announced 114 new cases in nine states.
According to the NCDC, the number of people confirmed to be positive now stands at 1095, with 208 discharged and 32 deaths.
The agency which announced the fresh cases at 11.30pm via its twitter handle said: “On the 24th of April 2020, 114 new cases of #COVID19 and one new death were recorded; 80 in Lagos, 21 in Gombe, five in FCT, two in Zamfara, two in Edo, one in Ogun, one in Oyo, one in Kaduna and one in Sokoto.”
“One new state (Zamfara) has reported a confirmed case in the last 24 hours.”
“As at 11:30 pm 24th April, confirmed cases by states: Lagos-657, FCT-138, Kano-73, Ogun-35, Gombe-30, Katsina-21, Osun-20, Edo-19, Oyo-18, Borno-12, Kwara-11, Akwa Ibom-11, Kaduna-10, Bauchi-8, Delta-6, Ekiti-4, Ondo-3, Rivers-3, Jigawa-2, Enugu-2, Niger-2, Abia-2, Zamfara-2, Sokoto-2, Benue-1, Anambra-1, Adamawa-1, Plateau-1.”
Earlier, the director general of NCDC, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu said at the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 warned against relaxing the measures adopted to contain the pandemic.
He made the observation in apparent reaction to the position of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) which called for scaling down the lockdown to partial mode with relaxed restriction.
In a letter dated April 24, 2020, and addressed to the secretary to the government of the federation and chairman of the PTF COVID-19, Mr. Boss Mustapha, the NGF requested for, subject to the president’s approval, internal free movement in all the states, but with restrictions on large gatherings.
The other things the governors want incorporated into President Buhari’s impending pronouncement on the lockdown are: “Inter-state lockdown, excluding movement of essential supplies- food, beverages, medical and pharmaceutical, petroleum supplies and agricultural products; internal free movement but with restrictions on large gatherings and assemblies; overnight curfews; lockdown of flights; and compulsory use of face masks/coverings in the public.”
However, Ihekweazu said the country ought to remain focused on implementing key response actions to arrest the spread and damage of the dreaded virus.
“I recognise how difficult things are at the moment, many families I know have not been able to bury their dead, some have rescheduled their marriages, rescheduled their baptisms and have rescheduled everything they are doing. So, it is like life is suspended because we have suspended many things that we hold dear.
“Everyone on this side of the table recognises the great sacrifices being made by Nigerians but we only have to encourage each other to continue till we get to the position where we think we can relax. To get to that point we must continue doing what we are doing now,” he said.
The director general said the most vulnerable to the COVID-19 infection at the moment are the elderly and those with underlying illnesses, adding that this segment of Nigerians deserves to be assisted and protected.
However, he said the coronavirus disease had been unable to dampen the never-say-die attitude of Nigerians.
“One thing COVID-19 has not been able to do is knock out our spirit as Nigerians,” he said.
Ihekweazu asked for endurance, support and patience during the current trying period while recognising the difficulties and hardship occasioned by the lockdown and appealed for support.
He said that Nigerians need to observe unprecedented levels of caution, and of adherence to preventive measures of hand washing, physical distancing, face masks, avoid gatherings, non-essential travel protect and the protection of the older population.
On how the centre had been dealing with the management of the virus spread in Kano, the NCDC boss said that test results for Kano, which was suspended due to exposure of some laboratory staff and subsequent decontamination of the facility, would be out by yesterday’s evening.
