With 35 news cases Nigeria’s COVID-19 hits 442

With the report of thirty five (35) new cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) the total numbers of those infected with the disease in Nigeria has now jumped to four hundred and forty two (442).

According to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on Thursday it said that 35 new positive cases of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) were uncovered in Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Oyo

Of the thirty-five new cases of #COVID19 19 were in Lagos, 9 in FCT, 5 in Kano and 2 in Oyo

The NCDC said as at 10:20 pm 16th April there are 442 confirmed cases of #COVID19 reported in Nigeria. 152 have been discharged with 13 deaths

As at 10:20 pm 16th April, number of states with confirmed cases of #COVID19: 19 + FCT Lagos- 251 FCT- 67 Kano- 21 Osun- 20 Edo- 15 Oyo- 13 Ogun- 9 Katsina- 7 Bauchi- 6 Kaduna- 6 Akwa Ibom- 6 Kwara- 4 Delta- 4 Ondo- 3 Enugu- 2 Ekiti- 2 Rivers-2 Niger- 2 Benue- 1 Anambra- 1

Buratai charges troops on final onslaught on Boko Haram/ISWAP

The NCDC has also re-emphasised that COVID-19 lockdown was not to end the disease but to keep people apart to stop its transmission to an extent and to build public health response efficiency.

Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, Director-General of NCDC, made the assertion while speaking on Sunrise Daily programme on Channels Television on Thursday morning.

“The goal of the lockdown is not to get to the end of this outbreak because that is not a realistic goal.

“On the goal of the lockdown, there are two things.

“Firstly, to keep people a little bit apart so that we stop transmission to some extent.

“And even though the lockdown has not been perfect, we have also some indicators to show that we are mixing a lot less,” he said.

“There are some analysis from Google that shows us that in many of the places that we need to congregate it is down by 60, 70 per cent .

“There is no doubt that there is less contact between individuals and that has hopefully had an impact on transmission.’’