By ABUJAH RACHEAL

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has announced 708 new cases of Coronavirus (COVID-19), taking the total number of infected people in the country to 157,671.

The NCDC disclosed this on its official Twitter handle on Thursday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the additional 708 new cases make it the first time since Feb. 26, 2021 that daily counts had surpassed 500.

Apart from the new infections, the NCDC also registered 12 COVID-19 related deaths, raising the total fatalities to 1,951.

The health agency stated that the new infections were registered in 20 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in the last 24 hours.

According to it, Adamawa recorded 180 new infections, Lagos confirmed 141, Ondo reported 60 and Anambra 54 cases.

Rivers 41, Taraba 33, Edo 30, Abia 22, Kaduna 22, FCT 21, Akwa Ibom 20, Kano 20, Plateau 11, Ekiti 10, Kebbi 10, Nasarawa 10, Bayelsa seven, Ogun five, Osun five, Oyo five and Gombe one.

The NCDC disclosed that 504 people were discharged after testing negative to the virus in the last 24 hours.

Today’s discharges include 229 community recoveries in Lagos State, 144 in Imo and 45 in Akwa Ibom.

“Till date, more than 136,335 people have recovered from COVID-19 and discharged,” the NCDC added.

It said that a multi-sectoral national Emergency Operations Centre (EOC), activated at Level 3, had continued to coordinate the national response activities Nigeria

NAN recalls that the country has tested 1.5 million people since the first confirmed case was announced on Feb. 27, 2020. (NAN)

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