Nigeria’s daily tally of Covid-19 cases fell even further as the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) announced 64 new cases in the country for April 27, 2020. With 91 cases the day before, this represents a 21% day on day reduction and brings the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 1,337.
The latest update comes as President Muhammadu Buhari revealed plans to relax lockdown in Lagos, Ogun and the FCT in a week’s time.
Lagos continued to record the most daily cases with 34 new cases, representing 53% of the total national daily tally. This gives Lagos total confirmed cases of 754, representing 56.3% of the total national confirmed cases.
After enjoying two days without a single case, the FCT, Abuja returned to the log with 15 new cases to bring its total number of cases to 157, up from 142. This means Abuja has 11.7% of the total national confined cases.
Kano witnessed its second day in a row without a new case, which makes it three in the last four days without a new case. This is, however, attributable to the closure of the testing facility in Kano. A staff of the testing centre told Premium Times that the closure was due to shortage of testing kits.
The minister for health, Osagie Ehanire, however, claimed it was because various members of staff were infected with Covid-19 and new staff had to be sent there. Whatever the case, the centre was reopened on Monday and we expect to see the real situation of things in Kano in the coming days.
Debutants
No new state appeared on the Covid-19 update within the last 24 hours. This makes it the first time in 6 days that a new state didn’t join the fray. The day before witnessed the entrance of four new states; Taraba, Kebbi, Bayelsa and Ebonyi, the largest daily tally for new entrants yet.
Thus, 32 states plus the FCT have recorded cases of Covid-19. Only 4 states in Nigeria are still coronavirus-free and they include Cross River, Kogi, Nassarawa, and Yobe.
The northeast situation
Recent figures show a worrying trend emerging from the northeast. From having some of the highest daily increase rates (Gombe with 233% and Borno with 150% both within the last 5 days) to having the highest first-time tally (Taraba debuted with 6 cases, the highest for a debutant), the region appears to have some of the more intriguing figures.
In the recent update, Borno recorded 11 new cases to bring its total tally to 41 cases, up from 30. This represents a 36.6% increase. While it doesn’t come anywhere near its largest day on day increase rate, it is, however, still troubling.
Even more troubling is the fact that 3 of the 5 states recorded in the latest update are northeastern states. Mere coincidence? Maybe. But it might be telling the story of a slow albeit very steady rise.
Recoveries, deaths and active cases
16 new recoveries were recorded within the last 24 hours. While this is a very slight reduction from the 17 recorded a day before, it is still significant considering the falling number of cases. Total number of discharged Covid-19 cases now stands at 255. This represents a 19% recovery rate, up from 18.7% recorded the day before.
With zero deaths recorded in the last 24 hours, total number of deaths remains stagnant two days in a row (40) for the first time since April 12 and 13, 2020 (10). This is quite impressive considering there were 5 Covid-19 deaths the day before, one of the highest daily amounts of death. This sends Nigeria’s death rate crashing back to 2.9%, an improvement from 3.1% the day before.
Global death rate is currently 6.9% while global recovery rate is 30%
Number of active cases in Nigeria is 1,042, up from 994 the day before. This means active cases make up 77.9% of the total number of confirmed cases in Nigeria, very slightly lower than 78% recorded the day before.
President Buhari to relax lockdown
President Muhammadu Buhari, in an address to Nigerians, announced the federal government’s plan to relax lockdown in Lagos, Ogun and the FCT. This will include measures like allowing certain essential business to operate, ban on inter-state travel, compulsory use of a face mask as well as the imposition of night curfews.
While this may come as reprieve for many Nigerians, the measures won’t kick in until May 4th. This essentially means the lockdown remains in effect for another one week. The president however, imposed an immediate lockdown on Kano state for the next two weeks.
The lockdown on Kano was expected and in order following the rising number of mysterious deaths and the matter of the closure of testing centre in the state. The FG, however, needs to pay a little more attention to the northeastern states of Borno, Gombe, Taraba and Bauchi.
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