Nigeria records 10 new COVID-19 deaths as cases slump again

Babatunde Oke :one of the 10 COVID-19 deaths

By Abankula

Ten persons died in Nigeria in the last 24 hours of COVID-19 complications, the NCDC announced Thursday.

This raised the death toll to 966, in contrast with the 956 logged in on Wednesday and Tuesday.

The increasing death toll was announced as the confirmed cases of COVID-19 also went southwards.

They fell to 373, from the 473 reported a day earlier. The national total is now 48,116.

Cases were reported in 19 states and FCT Abuja, with Lagos on top of the grim leaderboard once again.

Lagos recorded 69 cases, in contrast with the 113 confirmed cases on Wednesday.

Osun came next with 41 cases. Kaduna tied with Oyo, in the third place with 40 cases.

The Federal capital of Abuja, the second worst hit after Lagos, reported just 35 cases.

Here is the breakdown of cases state by state:

Lagos-69
Osun-41
Kaduna-40
Oyo-40
FCT-35
Plateau-22
Rivers-19
Kano-17
Ondo-17
Ogun-15
Abia-14
Gombe-12
Imo-9
Enugu-7
Kwara-6
Delta-5
Niger-2
Borno-1
Bauchi-1
Nasarawa-1

*34,309 discharged

Meanwhile, the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 said the fewer cases being reported was because of fewer samples being taken.

The PTF also said it was working with partners to implement comprehensive and aggressive engagement response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in the country.

The Coordinator of PTF on COVID-19, Dr Sani Aliyu, disclosed this at its briefing on Thursday in Abuja.

Aliyu said in the course of this implementation, PTF had come across a lot disbelief, apathy and fatigue which had led to issues and challenges with compliance and behaviour change among Nigerians.

“We recognise that behaviour change takes time and if we are to implement a multi-prong strategy, particularly working with risk communication and community engagement pillar, we should be able to address some of these challenges.

The cumulative cases state by state: