TheCable

Nigeria’s daily count of COVID-19 cases declined slightly on Saturday — with 497 new infections confirmed in 17 states and the federal capital territory (FCT).

In the past seven days, there has been a consistent surge in infections and deaths across the country.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) confirmed the new positive samples in its update for July 31.

According to the breakdown, Lagos state, the epicentre of the pandemic in the country, recorded the most infections with 211 new cases.

Akwa Ibom took the second position with 80 positive samples, followed by Kwara and Osun with 73 and 29 positive cases, respectively.

Other states include Oyo (17), Rivers (17), Cross River (15), Edo(14), Anambra (9), Ogun (8), Ekiti (6), Bayelsa (4), FCT(4), Plateau (4), Bauchi (2), Nasarawa (2), Kaduna (1) and Jigawa (1).

The new figure brings the total number of infections in the country to 173, 908.

The agency also confirmed that 16 patients were discharged on Saturday after recovering from coronavirus.

A total of 164,994 people have recovered after treatment — representing 94.8 percent of 173,908 confirmed cases in Nigeria.

However, no new death was recorded on Saturday, leaving the coronavirus death toll at 2,149.

Lagos currently accounts for the highest figure of fatalities with 456 deaths, followed by Edo with 185, and FCT with 169.