By ABUJAH RACHEAL

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) says the Nation’s total COVID-19 infections had jumped to 188,243, across the 36 states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as at yesterday, Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2021.

These were the reported cases since the beginning of the pandemic in Feb. 2020 in the country.

The NCDC said this via its verified website on Wednesday morning and that the additional 655 infections, reported on Tuesday, raised the country’s total infections.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the new infections indicate an increase from the 565 cases, reported on Monday.

The NCDC attributed the country’s rise in number to the highly transmissible Delta variant and low vaccination rates across the country.

It called on Nigerians to get vaccinated.

“All vaccines in Nigeria are safe. In Nigeria, COVID-19 vaccine is administered to 18 years old and above, including pregnant women and lactating mothers.

“The COVID-19 vaccine does not hurt or make you sick. Mild side effects may or may not occur,” it advised.

The agency also reported that five more COVID-19 related deaths were recorded as at Aug. 24, 2021, in Nigeria and deaths reported on Tuesday increased the country’s fatality figure to 2,281.

The Public Health agency noted that the number of the country’s active Coronavirus infections had again risen to 16,927, an increase from 16,494 reported on Monday.

The agency did not indicate if majority of the known active cases were from the contagious Delta variant.

The Disease Control agency, however, stated that over 2,727,834 million samples of the virus out of the nation’s roughly 200 million population were tested.

The NCDC stated that the new cases were reported in eight states and the FCT.

“Lagos state, the country’s epicentre now witnessing an increase in the use of oxygen for the management of severe COVID-19 patients at isolation facilities, reported 288 additional Infections on Tuesday.

“The state’s utilisation of oxygen, which is vital for the treatment of severe cases, has increased from 75 cylinders per day, at the beginning of the third wave, to over 400 cylinders per day.

“The Lagos state’s modelling suggested that it may be requiring even more oxygen supply over the next few weeks.

The state government is exploring several ways of increasing its oxygen capacity, including partnering the private sector,” it added.

It disclosed that Rivers, one of the country’s hotspots area for the delta variants recorded 188 cases on Tuesday, followed by Oyo – 64; Akwa Ibom – 31; FCT – 28; Ekiti – 21; Edo – 17; Bayelsa – 11; and Kaduna – 7.

According to the NCDC, six states; Nasarawa, Ogun, Osun, Ondo, Plateau and Sokoto report zero cases.

It said that the country had now successfully treated 169, 035 COVID-19 cases following the discharge of 217 additional people on Tuesday.

The NCDC added that the multi-sectoral national emergency operations centre (EOC), activated at Level 2, continued to coordinate the national response activities. (NAN)

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