The Nigeria Centre For Disease Control (NCDC) has registered 1,041 new infections of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) in the country.
The NCDC made this known via its verified website on Thursday.
Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic last February, more than 912,114 samples had been tested by the agency.
NCDC said that the new infections brought the total number of confirmed cases in Nigeria to 81,963, out of which 69,651 patients had been discharged and 1,242 deaths recorded.
It said that the 1,041 new cases were recorded in 22 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The centre said the number of COVID-19 patients who have been discharged had increased by 377.
“Our discharges today include 128 community recoveries in Lagos State, managed in line with the set guidelines,” it stated.
As for new infections, the NCDC stated that Lagos took the lead with 316 new cases, followed by the FCT with 210, Kaduna 83 and Plateau 70 cases.
Gombe and Oyo had 56 each; Katsina, 47; Nasarawa, 35, Kano, 33 and Ogun, 21.
Rivers reported 17 new cases; Niger and Imo14 each; Delta, Kwara and Edo had 12 each; Benue, nine and Anambra had eight.
According to the NCDC Taraba and Ekiti had four, Ebonyi, six and Bayelsa and Sokoto got one each.
The agency said that a multi-sectoral national Emergency Operations Centre (EOC), activated at Level Three, has continued to coordinate the national response activities.
Meanwhile, the NCDC disclosed that in the recent weeks there has been a huge increase in the number of samples sent to the National Reference Laboratory in Abuja from several states and the FCT.
“This has led to an unusual delay with testing, but we’re working round the clock,’’ it said.
The NCDC appealed to workers in laboratories across the states to continue with COVID-19 testing, so that most samples are not sent to its laboratory in Abuja.
“Despite the very tough year, we appeal to health workers across the country to sustain the response. We remain committed to supporting states,” the NCDC said.
The Director-General, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr Chikwe Iheakwazu, said the mutant strain of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) in the UK has not been found in Nigeria.
Iheakwazu, who made the disclosure on Thursday in Abuja during the Presidential Taskforce (PTF) briefing on COVID-19, however, advised Nigerians to stay calm and safe.
He, however, noted that viruses by their very nature mutate.
He said that the NCDC, in collaboration with the Africa Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases (ACEGID), did some sequencing in the past but did not find the UK variant which he described as deadlier than the original strain.
“Over the last few days, we have monitored reports of the virus mutating in the UK, South Africa and some other countries, but it is important to establish some facts about what we know, what we do not know and what we are willing to learn over the next few years.
“We haven’t found the UK strain but it is not something we have been looking for…To find that you have to do sequencing and our focus has not been on sequencing. We did some sequencing in the past but we haven’t found that.
“However, we are doing more sequencing now. Is it possible that they are circulating? Yes. This is because there are a lot of travels between the UK and Nigeria,” he said.
Iheakwazu said NCDC would collaborate with other stakeholders to collect new samples for sequencing in order to determine their variant.
“This is ongoing work. It cannot happen in a hurry. It is very complex. Sequencing is not a straight forward business which is why we have only a few centres that are able to do it,” he said.
The NCDC boss also urged states to reopen their testing centres, saying the NCDC alone could not conduct all COVID-19 tests received from states.
According to him, the NCDC centre is working on adopting the use of rapid diagnostic test kits as from next year in order to scale up testing.
He said: “On testing, there is light at the end of the tunnel… We have made a significant procurement that is coming in in January and through that, we are taking testing closer to the people and away from the laboratories.”
