Nigeria recorded a total of 4,035 new cases of the Covid-19 on 22nd December 2021, representing the highest daily number of cases recorded in Nigeria, taking the total tally to 231,413 from inception to date.
This is according to the daily update of the NCDC. The number of new cases recorded on Wednesday, increased by 90% compared to 2,123 cases recorded on the previous day. This comes as the Christmas celebration approaches.
So far in the week, a total of 7,930 new cases of the covid-19 has been recorded in the country with the number of active cases hitting 16,569, which is the highest since August 2021.
A breakdown of the 4,035 cases shows that Lagos State led the pack with 3,393 new cases, accounting for 84.1% of the total cases recorded on Wednesday. Rivers State followed with 260 cases, Edo (62), Akwa Ibom (42), Kaduna (39), Ekiti (38), Oyo (38), Delta (31), Kano (31), Ogun (30), Abia (26), Bauchi (15), Ondo (14), Enugu (9) and Kwara (7).
According to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, a total of 2,991 deaths have been recorded, while 211,853 patients have been discharged. It is worth noting that about 3.75 million tests have been carried out in Nigeria.
Meanwhile, Nigeria currently ranks 8th on the list of highest number of cases in Africa, following the likes of Kenya and Egypt with 270,899 and 377,960 cases respectively.
What this means
The recent increase in the daily number of cases implies that Nigeria has entered the fourth wave of the pandemic. By implication, the sudden surge in the number of daily cases in Nigeria especially at a time when Omicron virus is spreading across major European countries leading to movement restrictions could cause some form of movement restrictions.
With the Yuletide already around the corner, an uncontrolled spread of the virus could be counterproductive for the recovery of the economy.