By ABUJAH RACHEAL

Rivers led the pack on Thursday with 267 coronavirus cases as the country recorded 835 additional infections on Aug. 26.

Data from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on Friday showed that the cases were spread across 19 states and the FCT.

The NCDC stated that on Thursday the country confirmed 835 additional infections, from the 637 recorded on Wednesday, raising the cumulative cases to 189,715.

The Public Health Agency said Rivers recorded the highest number on Thursday with 263, infections followed by Lagos with 217 cases.

Amongst others were: Oyo-128, Edo-45, Kwara-42, the FCT-37, Ekiti-35, Ogun-13, Akwa Ibom-11, Imo-11, Bayelsa-10, Plateau-7, Delta-4, Kaduna-3, Benue-2, Niger-2, Sokoto-2; while Abia, Ebonyi and Nasarawa reported one each respectively.

According to NCDC, Borno and Kano state did not report any case.

The agency noted that 10 COVID-19 related deaths were recorded, increasing the country’s fatality figure to 2,298.

The agency had attributed the rise in cases to the Delta variant, which was surging in five states. It noted that the Delta was much more contagious than previous versions of COVID-19.

“The Delta variant is highly contagious. It infects more people and spreads faster than previous variants that cause COVID-19.

“Vaccines face masks and washing of hands remain the best protection to reduce a person’s risk of contracting COVID-19, including all the variants of concerns,” it said.

The NCDC said the number of the country’s active coronavirus infections stood at 17, 210 on Wednesday, from 16,927 reported on Tuesday. There were no data for Thursday.

However, the agency did not indicate if majority of the known active cases were from the contagious Delta variant or other variants of concern stated by the World Health Organisation, (WHO).

It added that over 2.7 million samples of the virus were tested, out of the nation’s estimated 200 million population.

The NCDC said the country had successfully treated 169, 626 COVID-19 cases following the discharge of 244 additional people on Thursday.

The Public Health agency noted that the multi-sectoral national emergency operations centre (EOC), activated at Level 2, continued to coordinate the national response activities.

Meanwhile, the NCDC urged all eligible Nigerians to get inoculated to protect themselves and their communities.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the country has adopted “the whole of family” approach in the second phase of vaccination.

This is to integrate the COVID-19 vaccination with other basic Primary Health Care (PHC) services such as childhood vaccination, screening for hypertension, among others.

The NCDC said this would ensure that while protecting eligible Nigerians against COVID-19, the total health of the citizens was protected. (NAN)

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