Coronavirus: NCDC confirms 11 new cases, total now 81

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has confirmed eleven (11) new cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) disease in the country.

The Centre giving a breakdown of the new cases stated on its Twitter page that 8 were confirmed in Lagos, 2 in Enugu and 1 in Edo State.

This brings the total confirmed cases to 81 with 3 already being discharged and 1 death recorded. Lagos State, the epicentre of the disease in the country has 52 cases, FCT- 14, Ogun- 3, Ekiti- 1, Oyo- 3, Edo- 2, Bauchi- 2 Osun-1 Rivers- 1,  Enugu- 2. The recent report is coming a few hours after the NCDC confirmed five new cases of the disease (3 in FCT and  2 in Oyo State). This brings the total new confirmed cases on Friday to 16.

The Lagos commissioner for health, Prof Akin Abayomi, Friday has said that Lagos State may be seeing up to 39,000 cases of COVID-19 in the state, going by the number of cases imported into the country already. Also, Nigerian artiste, Davido has reported that his “fiancee” Chioma has tested positive to the coronavirus disease.

Meanwhile, the Ekiti State Governor and Chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), Kayode Fayemi, on Friday stated that his coronavirus test result revealed he is negative of the disease. However, the United States Government has announced a 7 million dollars (about N2.6 billion) emergency health and humanitarian aid to Nigeria amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

This is part of a 274 million dollars (N103 billion) assistance package to no fewer than 63 countries affected by the disease, according to a statement by the Department of States on Friday. Nigeria’s share, the statement said, will go into funding of “risk communication, water and sanitation activities, infection prevention, and coordination’’. “This assistance joins more than 5.2 billion dollars (N1.9 trillion) in U.S. health assistance and more than 8.1 billion dollars (N3trillion)  in total assistance for Nigeria over the past 20 years,’’ it said. Vanguard