A second wave of COVID-19 appears to have hit Nigeria as the country on Wednesday recorded its highest daily number of cases with 930 new infections.
The country reached the new height in infections just five days after recording its previous highest daily figures of 796.
Until the resurgence of the infections in December, Nigeria never had a higher number of daily infections than the 745 reported on June 19.
The country’s total fatalities to the disease remains 1,200 as no new death was reported on Wednesday.
For about two weeks, daily cases in the country averaged 500 for the first time since the pandemic reached Nigeria in late February. The total number of infections in the country has now increased to 75,062.
The rising numbers put the nation on the precipice of what could be its worst stretch to date in the pandemic with the spread in infections still concentrated in the country’s two hardest hit cities – Abuja and Lagos.
But despite the spike, millions of citizens believe the nation had seen the worst of the coronavirus, hence they lowered their guards with the authorities also lax in enforcing control measures.
A majority of about 50 Nigerians engaged online by PREMIUM TIMES for their opinions on a second wave of the virus believe the worst was over, hence the safety protocols are more or less, a mere protocol.
As a consequence of the resurgence, hospitalisation is increasing with hundreds of new COVID-19 patients being admitted to hospitals in the past few days.
Active cases in the country rose from about 3,000 to over 5,000 due to rise in new infections.
Of the over 75,000 infections recorded in Nigeria, 66,775 patients have been discharged from hospitals after treatment.
This is according to an update Wednesday night by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
The 930 new cases were reported from 22 states. They are Lagos (279), FCT (179), Plateau (62), Kaduna (54), Kano (52), Katsina (52), Imo (42), Jigawa (42), Rivers (38), Kwara (30), Nasarawa (19), Yobe (15), Ogun (13), Borno (10), Oyo (9), Niger (9), Ebonyi (6), Bauchi (6), Edo (5), Taraba (4), Sokoto (2) and Cross River (2).
Again, Lagos and Abuja, led with 279 and 179 new cases respectively on Wednesday.
Bracing for a second wave, the Nigerian government has ordered the reopening of all isolation and treatment centres in the country.
The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has also made a “passionate appeal” to Nigerians to take the COVID-19 prevention advisories very seriously, especially during the Yuletide festivities.
This, the doctors said, is necessary to interrupt the transmission, reduce ill-health and deaths from the dreaded disease as “we await” the certification of a vaccine for global usage.
The Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 has also advised Nigerians to suspend their Christmas and New Year travels to reduce the risk of contracting the virus.
Nigeria has so far tested over 850,000 of its 200 million population for the virus.
Premium Times
