New Telegraph

Oyo tops as NCDC confirms 591 new COVID-19 infections

*NCDC DG says Nigeria will live with pandemic for one year

Four months after confirming its index case of COVID-19 on March 20, Oyo state hit a record high of daily infections on Friday with 191 new cases.
This was announced by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in its update for Friday .
According to the agency, 591 new samples tested positive in 16 states and the federal capital territory (FCT).
Oyo topped the list of states with new cases on Friday, followed by Lagos with 168 infections and FCT with 61.
With a total of 2,497 confirmed cases, Oyo is currently the third state with the most infections, but 1,148 patients have recovered, although 24 have died of COVID-19 complications.
Twelve new deaths were also recorded on Friday, bringing the country’s total number of fatalities to 845.
However, with 498 patients discharged across Nigeria in the past 24 hours, the number of daily recoveries increased significantly — the highest in three weeks.
Out of a current total of 39,539 cases confirmed in 36 states and the FCT, 22,135 are still active.
And in a related development, NCDC
Director-General, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, on Friday said that Nigerians must learn to live with the Covid-19 pandemic for at least one year.
Speaking at the media briefing by the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19 in Abuja, Iheakweazu said it is a reality our hospitals must live with instead of sending patients away.
“This message is for hospitals in the country. We have to live with this disease for at least one year at its very best, so we can’t turn our patients away,” he said.
Iheakweazu added: “Most hospitals have set up holding areas when there is uncertainty about diagnosis and the individual is showing symptoms.
“Every hospital should have a holding area and we have been supporting hospitals.
“We have an IPC team that has been supporting all the tertiary hospitals in Nigeria to set up triage centres. A triage centre is when you come in, you are screened and if your symptoms are similar to those of Covid-19, you are put in a holding area until we can determine the diagnosis.
“The technology that we have for testing, even if it works optimally, cannot provide us a test as quickly as possible.
Earlier, the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, had said that no hospital should reject patients requiring medical attention regardless of whether they show Covid-19 symptoms or not.
Meanwhile, across Africa, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), as of July 24, more than 769,000 COVID-19 cases have been confirmed across the continent, out of which more than 435,000 recoveries and 16,000 deaths have been recorded.
BREAKDOWN
591 new cases of #COVID19Nigeria: Oyo-191
Lagos-168
FCT-61
Ondo-29
Osun-26
Ebonyi-24
Edo-23
Ogun-14
Rivers-13
Akwa Ibom-12
Kaduna-10
Katsina-6
Borno-4
Ekiti-3
Delta-3
Imo-3
Niger-1
*39,539 confirmed
16,559 discharged
845 deaths

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