Nigeria coronavirus: 20,919 cases; govt targets 3,000 daily tests

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, became the third African country to record over 10,000 cases of COVID-19. The milestone was reached on May 31 when 307 new cases took its tally to 10,162.

As Africa’s biggest economy, the federal government has continued to enforce regulations across the board even though most state governments have moved to relax restrictions.

Lagos being the economic nerve center is rolling out a progressive reopening of the economy. It is the most impacted state with over 5,000 cases as of May 31. Only Cross River State had yet to record a case.

The national response is led by the Presidential Task Force, PTF, led by SGF Boss Mustapha along with a national coordinator and relevant ministers – chief among them, Health, Foreign Affairs and Education ministries. At the heart of the response is the Nigeria Center for Disease Control, NCDC.

This article is dedicated to covering events from the country throughout the month of June. Our May 2020 daily updates page also gives you a rundown of major activities.

June 23: 20,000; Lagos gets new testing machine

The NCDC on Monday reported the unveiling of a new polymerase chain reaction (PCR) machine to boost COVID-19 testing in the country.

The machine is expected to help boost testing as the government looks to boost testing capacity to 3,000 per day. The facility is stationed at the Central Public Health Laboratory (CPHL), a campus of the NCDC National Reference Laboratory in Lagos.

The machine was procured using part of the £661,000 UKAid funding the British government donated to the Nigeria branch of the World Health Organisation (WHO) this year.

In his remarks at the unveiling, Chikwe Ihekweazu, director-general of NCDC, said the machine will help in achieving the centre’s goal to test over two million people over the next three months. The NCDC confirmed that total samples tesed as of June 22 stood at 117,569.

Nigeria has been beneficiary of international assistance in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. The WHO, EU, UK and US have all advanced assistance in terms of materials and funds.

  • Confirmed cases = 20,919
  • Active cases = 13,285
  • Recoveries = 7,109
  • Number of deaths = 525

John Hopkins Uni stats valid as of June 22, 2020

June 22: 20,919 cases; sub-500 new cases in five days

Nigeria’s case load went past 20,000 mark at close of day June 21 when 436 new cases took the tally to 20,244 confirmed cases. Deaths have reached 518 with 6,879 recoveries. The active cases as of today were 12,847.

The 436 new cases means for the first time in five days, the daily toll was not above 500. The breakdown of the above 500 tallies are as follows:

  • June 20 = 661 new cases
  • June 19 = 667 new cases
  • June 18 = 745 new cases
  • June 17 = 587 new cases

Meanwhile the federal aviation authority has reported that the Lagos local airport was preparing for the resumption of local flights. Among other measures with distancing rules at its seating area a,d copious regulations at vantage areas.

Even though local flights were expected to resume this week, authorities announced a postponement according to local media outlets. But for many other Nigerians, their concern is as to when air traffic will be opened for international travel.

Currently, the only international airlines flying into the country are those evacuating citizens from across the world and those undertaking humanitarian work like that of most aid agencies.

By Abdur Rahman Alfa Shaban
Reference:https://www.africanews.com/2020/06/23/nigeria-coronavirus-covid-19-updates-june-2020/

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