The total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) in Nigeria has surpassed the 50,000 mark. Although the nation has recorded lower numbers of new infections recently, the figure witnessed a sudden jump on Wednesday with the discovery of 593 more COVID-19 cases.
In its latest update on the disease, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) – which is the agency saddled with the responsibility of compiling figures reported – puts the total number of cases at 50,488.
The cases were recorded from 15 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Of the new cases reported, Plateau took the lead with 186 more infections and is trailed by Lagos and the FCT, where 172 and 62 new cases were recorded respectively.
Others are Oyo – 27, Delta – 25, Rivers – 20, Ondo – 19, Edo – 18, Kaduna – 17, Enugu – 12, Akwa Ibom – 10, Ogun – seven, Abia – six, Gombe – six, Kano – three, and Osun – three.
Wednesday’s figure is 176 higher than the number of cases reported the previous day, but more patients have continued to recover from the virus.
Latest data from the nation’s health agency indicates that 470 more people have been successfully treated and discharged from various isolation centres in the country.
Nigeria’s total recovery figure stands at 37,304, representing 73.88 per cent of the total number of cases confirmed so far.
As of 11:40 on Wednesday, the country has 12,452 active cases of COVID-19 with 985 deaths recorded so far from each state of the Federation and the FCT.
The recent increase in the number of cases comes at a time when the government is gradually easing the restrictions earlier put in place to curb the spread of the disease.
These include the reopening of schools for students in exit classes, as well as the resumption of domestic flights and scheduled reopening of airports for international flight operations.