By ABUJAH RACHEAL

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) recorded 213 additional new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 171, 324, as of July 26, 2021.

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

The health agency also stated that it recorded two COVID-19 related deaths on Monday, while additional nine people recovered from the virus, as of July 26, 2021.

It added that the new infections were recorded in 12 states, namely: Lagos-157, Rivers-20, Plateau-12, Enugu-6, Oyo-6, Gombe-3, Bauchi-2, Imo-2, Kaduna-2, Edo-1, Ekiti-1, and Ogun-1.

It noted that since the outbreak of the Coronavirus Disease in the country on Feb. 27, 2020, a total of 2,134 persons lost their lives, while 164,798 recovered from the virus and discharged from health centres across the country.

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

It stated that the country tested more than 2.4 million samples for the virus and had detected 10 COVID-19 Delta variant, recognised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a variant of concern, given its increased transmissibility.

The variant had been detected in over 100 countries and may spread further.

The variant has also been linked to a surge in cases in countries where it is the dominant strain in circulation. There are ongoing studies to understand the impact of the variant on existing vaccines and therapeutics. (NAN)