BREAKING: Nigeria Records 51 New COVID-19 Cases, Total Infections Now 493
Nigeria has recorded 51 new cases of the novel coronavirus, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
In a tweet on Friday, the NCDC reported 32 cases in Lagos, six in Kano, five in Kwara, two each in the Federal Capital Territory and Oyo, and one each in Ogun and Ekiti.
Fifty-one new cases of #COVID19 have been reported;
32 in Lagos
6 in Kano
5 in Kwara
2 in FCT
2 in Oyo
2 in Katsina
1 in Ogun
1 in EkitiAs at 10:10 pm 17th April there are 493 confirmed cases of #COVID19 reported in Nigeria.
Discharged: 159
Deaths: 17#TakeResponsibility pic.twitter.com/PKWwUsJVBP— NCDC (@NCDCgov) April 17, 2020
The health agency also recorded an increase of four deaths, bringing total casualties to 17.
However, the number of discharged patients rose by seven to 159.
Earlier on Friday, the NCDC said it had tested 7,153 samples for COVID-19 in the country, but pledged to ramp up the rate of testing, especially in Lagos and the FCT.
“We aim to increase access to testing as new testing modalities also become available,” Director-General of the NCDC, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu said on Friday during the Presidential Task Force for COVID-19 briefing in Abuja.
