Nigeria has recorded over 1000 cases of coronavirus cases.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control made this known via its Twitter handle on Friday.

It also said at least 32 persons have died from coronavirus-related complications.

It said, “On the 24th of April 2020, 114 new confirmed cases and one new death were recorded in Nigeria.

“One new state, Zamfara, has reported a confirmed case in the last 24 hours.

“Till date, 1095 cases have been confirmed, 208 cases have been discharged and thirty-two deaths have been recorded in 27 states and the Federal Capital Territory

“The 114 new cases are reported from nine states- Lagos (80), Gombe (21), FCT (5), zamfara (2), Edo (2), Ogun (1), Oyo (1), Kaduna (1), Sokoto (1).”

Former Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, on Monday, said the hardship occasioned by the stay-at-home order over the coronavirus pandemic had necessitated the need to focus on full-time strategic implementation of ‘stomach infrastructure.’

Fayose, in a statement by his media aide, Lere Olayinka, said present realities made it imperative for leaders to stand for their people and take exceptional interest in their welfare.

He said, “The human and economic losses occasioned by the coronavirus pandemic will be mind-boggling if the food need of the people are not addressed. In the face of all these, leaders must remain leaders and stand up for their people.

“We all know the ‘sit-at-home’ is inevitable but the government at all levels, particularly governors and council chairmen, as well as churches and mosques that have received allocations and offerings, etc., must forget projects and embark on full-time strategic implementation of ’stomach infrastructure’ as hunger can kill quicker than coronavirus.

“It is time to give back to the people as nothing else would matter now. Yam, cassava, garri, others can be bought locally and distributed, while bakers will be glad to be patronised to bake for the people for free, daily, while it lasts. This will help to enforce the stay-at-home order of the government effortlessly.

“The Federal Government will be making billionaires if the so-called palliatives and physical cash are managed by wrong hands.

“Today, I am sure that what is on the minds of ordinary Nigerians is, ‘on stomach infrastructure we stand’. This, if well implemented, will no doubt help to enforce the stay-at-home order of the government effortlessly,” he said.

Fayose praised the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, for what he described as “his pro-activeness and unrelenting efforts in the management of these challenges as well as his transparency and interface with the people.”

The Lagos State Government has announced that a 36-year-old man died of coronavirus in the state.

The Lagos Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, made the announcement via his Twitter handle on Sunday.

He said that the Nigerian died on Saturday in a private facility.

Abayomi confirmed the death as the second coronavirus fatality recorded in Lagos.

• 248 on self-isolation in Oyo

Eniola Akinkuotu, Olufemi Atoyebi, Adelani Adepegba, Tobi Aworinde, Dayo Ojerinde, Abiodun Nejo, Patrick Odey, Edward Nnachi,  Bola Bamigbola and Wale Oyewale

The Federal Government on Thursday said it had succeeded in tracing 3,550 people who came in contact with patients infected with COVID-19 in the country.

The Director General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, who disclosed this at a press conference organised in Abuja by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, said the 3,550 people were being monitored for symptoms of coronavirus.

The NCDC said this as there were concerns in the country over the rising COVID-19 cases, which increased to 190 on Thursday.

In Osun State, residents of Ejigbo, where six Cote d’Ivoire returnees tested positive, stayed indoor for fear of contracting the virus.

But in Abuja, the NCDC assured Nigerians that the Federal Government was fighting the virus.

Ihekweazu had, at a  press conference on Tuesday, said  government  was searching for  5,000 people who came in contact with COVID-19 positive patients

The director general, who said there was an urgent need to get such people and prevent community transmission of the virus, said many of the contacts came from abroad and gave wrong phone numbers and addresses on the flights they boarded.

On Thursday, Ihekweazu was asked the extent government had gone in tracing the contacts following the two-week lockdown the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) ordered in the Federal Capital Territory, Lagos and Ogun states.

He responded, “We have traced and monitoring 71 per cent of all of them. By the end of today, that figure will increase. This is what this period of two weeks is for. Lagos has been transformational in the last few days. The teams have been able to move incredibly across the state to monitor all these contacts.

“The early cases had large number of contacts.  Many of them were on planes and we have to basically contact everyone. But everyone we identify now has a maximum of 30 or 40 contacts. So the number of contacts in confirmed cases is reducing because we no longer have people that were exposed to a plane.”

On the kits donated to the country by a Chinese billionaire, he said every state government was asked to come to Abuja to collect its share of the kits.

No preferential treatment for those in isolation –NCDC boss

He also said there was no preferential treatment for anyone in all the coronavirus isolation centres across the country.

He said, “There is no preferential care at treatment centres. Everybody is getting the same level of care in Abuja and Lagos and health care workers are really working hard to make sure everybody is supported through the period of care.”