The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has stated that the 3rd wave of Covid-19 in Nigeria has produced 32 Delta variant cases in 5 states nationwide.
This was disclosed by the Director-General of the NCDC, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu at the Presidential Steering Committee on Covid in Abuja on Monday, according to the News Agency of Nigeria.
The NCDC boss revealed that Akwa Ibom State is leading in the Delta variant count with 9 cases so far. He cited other states including Lagos, Rivers, and Oyo states as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), as the other places where at least one case of the Delta variant has been confirmed.
What the NCDC boss said
Ihekweazu said that the NCDC scaled up its sequencing capacity to have a better understanding of the burden of the variants of concern in the country, citing that Nigeria has the tools to sequence variants with Lagos leading with 3 labs with virus sequencing capacity.
“We will continue to scale the weekly number of samples sequenced as part of our surveillance,” Ikekweazu said while stressing that the risk of virus mutation was higher when there was a high transmission of the virus.
“While sequencing is important for us to understand the situation, handwashing, physical distancing and the proper use of face masks are very important to prevent the spread of the virus,” he added.
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