Nigeria’s tally of confirmed COVID-19 cases on Thursday rose to 8,915 as 182 new infections were announced by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). Five deaths were recorded from the virus on Thursday bringing the total number of confirmed deaths from the virus to 259.

Lagos recorded the highest figure of cases reported with 111 infections. The state also remains the epicentre for the disease.

There was a sharp decline in the number of infections reported on Thursday (182) compared to the number reported on Wednesday (389).

The agency in a tweet late Thursday night said the 182 new cases were reported in 16 states. These are Lagos, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Akwa Ibom, Oyo, Kaduna, Delta, Rivers, Ogun, Ebonyi, Kano, Plateau, Gombe, Kebbi, Kwara, Bauchi and Borno

“Till date, 8,915cases have been confirmed, 2, 592 cases have been discharged and 259 deaths have been recorded in 35 states and the Federal Capital Territory,” it said.

The 182 new cases are reported from 16 states: Lagos – 111, FCT – 16, Akwa Ibom – 10, Oyo – 8, Kaduna – 6, Delta – 6, Rivers – 5, Ogun – 4, Ebonyi – 4, Kano – 3, Plateau – 2, Gombe – 2, Kebbi – 1, Kwara – 1, Bauchi – 1 and Borno – 1.

BREAKDOWN

Since the beginning of the outbreak in Nigeria in February, 49,966 samples have been tested by NCDC, out of which 8,195 were positive.

Out of the 8,195 positive cases, there are 6,064 active COVID-19 cases in the country, 2,592 people have recovered and discharged from the virus with 259 deaths recorded.

A breakdown of the 8,195 confirmed cases shows that Lagos State has so far reported 4,123 cases, followed by Kano – 939, FCT – 535, Katsina – 358, Borno – 258, Oyo – 260, Ogun – 246, Jigawa – 241, Edo – 240, Bauchi – 234, Kaduna – 221, Rivers – 176, Gombe – 154, Sokoto – 116, Plateau – 99, Kwara – 86, Zamfara – 76, Nasarawa – 62, Delta – 57, Yobe – 47, Osun – 44, Adamawa – 38, Ebonyi – 40, Akwa Ibom – 45, Imo – 34, Kebbi – 33, Niger – 30, Ondo – 24, Ekiti – 20, Enugu – 18, Taraba – 18, Bayelsa – 12, Anambra – 11, Abia – 10, Benue – 7 and Kogi – 2.

The Director General of NCDC, Chikwe Ihekweazu at the Presidential Taskforce briefing on Thursday

highlighted the need to intensify efforts to improve COVID-19 testing in Nigeria.

“We’re working very hard to scale up test capacity for COVID-19 to every state across the country using real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) which is most reliable,” he said.