Nigeria Centre for Disease Control on Friday confirmed a total number of new 238 coronavirus cases in the country and also a total of 10 deaths in the last 24 hours.
Nigeria’s capital city Abuja and Kano states have the highest numbers. While Kano recorded 92 new cases, Abuja recorded 36 new cases.
Lagos State, the epicenter of the virus in Nigeria, recorded 30 new cases. The spread of the virus further intensified in Gombe State as the state recorded 16 new states.
Bauchi recorded 10 new cases while Delta state has eight new cases, NCDC also announced six new cases in Oyo State.
Zamfara and Sokoto states both recorded five new cases each, while Ondo and Nassarawa recorded four new cases each.
Kwara, Edo, Ekiti, Borno and Yobe states all recorded three new cases each.
While Adamawa got new cases in the last 24 hours, Niger, Imo, Ebonyi, Rivers and Enugu states reported one new case of coronavirus each.
In total, Nigeria has now confirmed 2170 cases of COVID19, discharged 351 persons, while 68 persons have died.
Nigeria will begin a “phased and gradual” easing of more than four weeks of lockdowns in the national capital and the largest city on May 4, President Muhammadu Buhari said in an address on Monday.
Lagos and Ogun states and the federal capital territory of Abuja entered lockdowns to tame the spread of the new coronavirus on March 30.
Buhari said the lockdowns had come at a “very heavy economic cost,” stripping many citizens of their livelihoods.
“No country can afford the full impact of a sustained lockdown while awaiting the development of vaccines,” Buhari said.
Millions of Nigeria’s 200 million citizens, more than 20 million of whom live in Lagos, live on daily wages, and the lockdown left many without money to buy food.
Authorities will enforce an overnight curfew, from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m., and also will require all those who are out during the day to wear face masks.
The federal government will also enforce a ban on non-essential movement between Nigeria’s 36 states, a measure the governors’ forum had requested.
