By ABUJAH RACHEAL

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) says Nigeria’s COVID-19 cases have risen to 196,487 on Tuesday with 597 new infections.

The NCDC stated this via its verified website on Wednesday morning.

It said this was the nation’s total infections since the index case in 2020, attributing the surge of the third wave to the highly transmissible Delta variant and low vaccination rates across the country.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the new infections indicate a decrease from the 379 cases reported on Monday.

The Public Health Agency also announced that 17 additional COVID-19 related deaths reported on Tuesday increased the country’s fatality figure to 2,573.

The agency reported that the new infections were reported from 13 States and the FCT.

“Lagos 204, Rivers 89, Edo 65, FCT 50, Oyo 47, Enugu 46, Ekiti 24, Cross River 17, Delta 15, Gombe-15, Osun 12, Plateau 6, Benue 5 and Kano 2.

“Four States – Abia, Nasarawa, Ondo and Sokoto States reported zero cases,” it stated.

The NCDC further disclosed that 277 COVID-19 patients recovered and have been discharged from various isolation centres in the country.

It noted that the country had successfully managed 185,159 in the 36 states and the FCT.

The agency added that over 2. 8 million samples of the virus out of the nation’s roughly 200 million population were tested.

The NCDC said that a multi-sectoral national Emergency Operations Centre, activated at Level 2, had continued to coordinate the national response activities. (NAN)

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