COVID-19: Nigeria’s cases hit 6,175 with 216 new infections amid 191 fatalities

Confirmed COVID-19 cases in Nigeria have now reached 6,175, with 191 fatalities recorded in the country.

This is as the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, on Monday night announced 216 new cases and nine new deaths. It said “On the 18th of May 2020, 216 new confirmed cases and 9 deaths were recorded in Nigeria” Till date, 6175 cases have been confirmed, 4,339 are active cases, 1644 cases have been discharged and 191 deaths have been recorded in 34 states and the Federal Capital Territory

The 216 new cases are reported from 15 states- Lagos (74), Katsina (33), Oyo (19), Kano (17), Edo (13), Zamfara (10), Ogun (8), Borno (8), Gombe (8), Bauchi(7), Kwara (7), FCT (4), Kaduna (3), Enugu (3), Rivers (2) 35,345 samples have been tested since the outbreak of the pandemic in Nigeria, and out of the 35,345 samples, 6175 were confirmed positive for the virus.

Meanwhile, the Federal Government on Monday announced an extension of the current partial lockdown of the country, saying the time is not ripe for it to relax its containment protocols against the COVID-19 pandemic. Chairman of the Presidential Taskforce PTF on COVID-19 and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Mr. Boss Mustapha announced this in Abuja during the daily briefing of the Taskforce.

He said; “the reality is that in spite of the modest progress made, Nigeria is not yet ready for full opening of the economy and tough decisions have to be taken for the good of the greater majority. Any relaxation will only portend grave danger for our populace.​

“Advisedly, the current phase of eased restriction will be maintained for another two weeks during which stricter enforcement and persuasion measures will be pursued”.Vanguard