Yemisi Izuora
Nigeria’s Coronavirus cases are moving up gradually and has claimed the life of another Nigerian, bringing the number of deaths from the pandemic to five.
The Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, on Sunday confirmed the state recorded the death of a 36-year-old Nigerian man, who died of the virus.
Abayomi announced the death through his Twitter handle on Sunday, saying that it was the death of second COVID-19 patient recorded in the state. “We lost a #COVID19 patient; a 36-year-old Nigerian, male, who died in a private facility on April 4, 2020.
The National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) also said the number of confirmed persons that had contracted the disease had grown to 232, with 18 new confirmed cases reported, six in Lagos and two each in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, and Edo State.
NCDC, in a tweet yesterday, said, “As at 11:15am April 5, there are 224 confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported in Nigeria; 27 patients have been discharged with five deaths.”
At present, Lagos has 115 cases; Abuja, 45; Osun, 20; Oyo and Edo have nine cases each; Bauch, six; Akwa Ibom, five; Ogun and Kaduna, four cases each; Enugu and Ekiti, two cases each; while Rivers, Benue and Ondo states have one case, respectively.
Meanwhile, NCDC has activated the Lagos State Biosafety Level-3 Laboratory, ready for COVID-19 testing.
The NCDC, in a tweet, said the activation of the laboratory brings the number of COVID-19 testing labs in Nigeria to nine. It added that efforts were on to ensure speedy completion of work at molecular laboratories in Maiduguri, Kano, Sokoto, Port Harcourt, Jos and Kaduna.