The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) says it has recorded more deaths from COVID-19 complications as infections continue to surge in the country.

The NCDC confirmed 650 new cases in 16 states of the federation and the FCT, with 56 deaths across the country on Saturday, via its verified website on Sunday morning, adding to the recent surge in infections driven by the spread of the Delta variant in the country.

The News Agency Of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the 650 fresh cases reported on Saturday was an increase from the 618 cases posted the previous day in Nigeria.

It added that the 56 additional COVID-19 related deaths reported on Saturday also increased the country’s fatality figure to 2,361.

The agency noted that the number of the country’s active coronavirus infections had, however, dropped from 18,210, reported on Friday to 10,575, reported on Saturday.

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

According to the latest NCDC data, Lagos had the highest number of infections with 281 cases. Ondo Followed with 95 infections, while Rivers had 80.

Amongst others were Akwa Ibom (59), Oyo (24), Ekiti (22), Delta (20), Edo (18), Enugu (15), Bayelsa (14), Ogun (11), Kaduna (, Plateau (7), Kano (6), the FCT (5), Gombe (3), and Abia (2).

It noted that Borno, Nasarawa and Sokoto states reported zero cases.

The NCDC added that over 2.7 million samples of the virus out of the nation’s roughly 200 million population were tested and 178,047 cases treated with 8,232 discharged on Saturday, the highest number of cases discharged since the advent of third wave of the pandemic.

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

As at Saturday, the public health agency also reported that the country’s total COVID-19 cases stood at 199,983 infections reported across the 36 states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory. (NAN)

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