By ABUJAH RACHEAL

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has recorded 214 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 162,076.

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

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that in the past two weeks, Nigeria registered 3,414 additional COVID-19 infections, the lowest since the beginning of its second wave in December 2020.

In the penultimate week, (March 7 – March 13), there were 2,300 cases, a reduction when compared to the 2,817 recorded in the previous week (Feb. 28 – March 6).

Last week, (March 14 – March 20), 1,114 new cases were registered, representing over 1,000 reductions from the previous week figure of 2,300.

The 1,114 cases recorded last week was the lowest in four months the country had registered.

The Nigeria’s public health institute, however, recorded one additional death in the last 24 hours bringing the COVID-19 death toll at 2,031.

Meanwhile, the COVID-19 death rate reduced in the past two weeks with the country recording 66 deaths.

“49 deaths in the penultimate week (March 7 – 13) and 17 new deaths last week,” it said.

It stated that in the last 24 hours, Adamawa state reported 109 cases, Lagos 33, Bauchi 26, Kaduna 9, Rivers 9, FCT 7, Oyo 7, Gombe 5, Ebonyi 4, Osun 3, Ekiti 1 and Ogun 1.

The agency also disclosed that 405 people had recovered in the last 24 hours, from across isolation centers in the country.

The NCDC noted that the discharged included 157 community recoveries in Bauchi State, 121 in FCT and 55 in Lagos State managed in line with its guidelines.

It also stated that the backlog of cases from Adamawa State recorded from March 10 were also registered.

“As of today, a total of 148,530 individuals have recovered from the novel coronavirus infection. The recovery rate, as such, is almost 92 per cent of the country’s caseload,” it noted.

The NCDC said a multi-sectoral national emergency operations centre (EOC), activated at Level 3, had continued to coordinate the national response activities in the country.

It said currently, there were 11,762 active cases across Nigeria, adding that it was an increase of 49 from 11,713 the previous day.

NAN recalls that the country’s daily new cases continue to follow a downward trajectory; from an all-time high of 2,314 on Jan. 22, the daily new positive cases has come down to 86 as of March 21.

Also, in the last two weeks, the country tested 140,297 persons, showing that the country may be close to flattening the curve of the pandemic.

Meanwhile, Nigeria have tested 1,727, 467 people since the first confirmed case of COVID-19 pandemic was announced on Feb. 27, 2020. (NAN)

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