Nigeria on Saturday recorded 779 new cases of the novel coronavirus, bring its total infections to 24,077.

This was confirmed by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control in a tweet via its official handle.

Saturday’s new cases marked the highest daily increase since the health agency started reporting COVID-19 infections in February.

Nigeria is currently undergoing a second phase of a re-opening after weeks of lockdown to slow the spread of the virus.

However, the number of cases has continued to increase as the country’s testing capacity is being ramped up.

Lagos, the country’s epicentre for the virus, reported the highest number of cases on Saturday with 285, while Rivers state recorded 68 new cases and the FCT 60/

Other states with new cases include Edo (60), Enugu (56), Delta (47), Ebonyi (42), Oyo (41), Kaduna (19), Ogun (18), Ondo (16), Imo (12), Sokoto (11), Borno (9), Nasarawa (8), Abia (5), Gombe (5), Kebbi (5), Kano (4), Yobe (3), Ekiti (3), and Osun (2).

The total number of deaths triggered by the virus now stands at 558, while 8,625 patients have been successfully treated and discharged.

•Text (excluding headline): Channels TV.

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