The Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) has announced that over the weekend, the country hit two major milestones in its COVID-19 pandemic with the confirmation of more than 100,000 cases and the completion of over one million COVID-19 tests.
In a statement, the center said Nigeria has recorded a consistent increase in the number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus disease in the country.
“On the 10th of January 2021, Nigeria reached the “100,000 cases milestone”, with 100,087 confirmed cases and 1,358 deaths,” the center stated.
In its public health advisory, NCDC alerted the public that the non-adherence to public health and social measures is exacerbating the public health response efforts to limit the continued spread of COVID-19.
“The average number of daily confirmed cases recorded in the first week of January 2021, was higher than the cumulative cases recorded the last week of December 2020,” NCDC stated. “Following the festive season, and in view of the increase in the number of confirmed cases in Nigeria, the NCDC and partners, with leadership from the Federal Ministry of Health and Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 is putting in place measures to strengthen the public health response to the pandemic.”
While encouraging citizens to adhere to the recommended public health and social measures advised by public health authorities, the center added that it has significantly scaled-up the national testing capacity by expanding the number of laboratories for COVID-19 testing across states.
“Testing remains one of the best tools we have in our fight against COVID-19, as it enables prompt clinical management and helps in preventing further transmission. The cumulative number of samples tested in the country has increased significantly, and some states have sustained their higher levels of testing. Although the country has yet to meet its total testing capacity, this remains a major priority for the response,” the center stated.