By ABUJAH RACHEAL

Two hundred and thirty-six Nigeria residents have contracted coronavirus (COVID-19) in the past 24 hours, according to official statistics.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), the body charged with monitoring and coordinating the treatment of the disease in the country, confirmed the new infections in its verified website on Wednesday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that while 236 people were newly infected, there has not been any COVID-19-related death in the past one week, as fatalities from the disease still stand at 1,163.

According to the NCDC, 142 of the newly infected people resided in Lagos; 19 in Ogun; 15 in Kaduna, while the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Imo and Rivers had 14 residents each.

Six residents were infected in Plateau; Katsina had three, while Ekiti, Jigawa and Oyo had two each.

Cross River, Kano and Taraba reported one infected person each.

With the newly reported infections in 13 states and the FCT the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Nigeria now stands at 65,693.

The NCDC stated on the website that so far 721,561 Nigeria residents had been tested for the disease since the first confirmed case was reported on Feb. 27 this year.

It stated that in the past 24 hours 120 patients have been discharged from isolation centres across the country and with the latest discharge a total 61,457 COVID-19 patients have been successfully treated in Nigeria.

The NCDC, however, said that it had activated a multi-sectoral national Emergency Operations Centre at Level III to coordinate the national response to the disease. (NAN)