Nigeria Records 156 New Coronavirus Cases

Nigeria on Friday recorded 156 coronavirus cases, one of the country’s lowest daily tallies in almost four months.

The latest daily figure brings the total number of infections in the country to 54, 743.

This is according to an update by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on Friday night.

The update came barely 24 hours after the night curfew was extended from 12 a.m. to 4 a.m. in the third phase of eased lockdown.

Cases have fallen below 300 for almost two weeks in Africa’s most populous nation.

Nigeria has been riding along a plateau as of late, perhaps an indication that the worst is over even though health experts say it is dangerous to relent as the continued decline in daily infections poses more questions than answers.

The number of deaths from the virus has also been minimal.

Three deaths were recorded on Friday, dragging the total number of deaths from the virus 1, 051.

The 156 new cases were reported from 17 states: Lagos (36), FCT (35), Oyo (29), Kaduna (10), Abia (9), Osun (5), Ogun (5), Enugu (5), Rivers (4), Nasarawa (3), Ekiti (3), Imo (3), Edo (2), Kwara (2), Katsina (2), Plateau (2), Niger (1)

Lagos, Nigeria’s coronavirus hotspot with over 18,000 infections and 202 deaths, also led in Friday’s tally with 36 new infections.

Abuja, Nigeria’s capital and the second most impacted with a total of over 5,000 cases and 50 deaths, came second in the daily toll with 35 new cases.

The NCDC in its daily update of the infection on its verified Twitter handle @NCDCgov, stated that out of the over 54,000 infections so far, 42, 816 persons have recovered and have been discharged.

Nigeria has had to reopen its economy as authorities seek to balance health needs with the economic needs of the populace.

Schools are being reopened gradually. Prospective youth corps members are told to prepare for camp.

While local flights resumed about five weeks ago, Nigeria will reopen its skies on Saturday for flights from other countries after it was shut in March.