The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control reported 8 new covid related deaths on boxing day, following the 21 deaths recorded on Christmas day. This is according to the daily update released by the NCDC.
A total of 1,547 new cases of Covid-19 were also recorded on boxing day, taking the tally from inception to date to a record of 237,561 positive cases in the country and 3,022 deaths. The recent spike in the number of cases of the Covid-19 in the country, suggest that Nigeria has entered into the fourth wave of the pandemic, with over 23,000 cases recorded so far in the month of December.
As the world continues to celebrate during the Christmas festive period, in the same vein the number of cases of the covid-19 disease has continued to increase in Nigeria, with Lagos State being at the epicentre of the spread.
According to the NCDC, on Sunday, 26th December 2021, 1,547 new confirmed cases of the covid-19 and 8 related deaths were recorded in the country. The cases were recorded from 10 states. Notably, Abuja recorded the highest with 806 new cases, followed by Lagos with 401 cases.
Others on the list include, Borno (166), Oyo (78), Ogun (47), Osun (30), Ekiti (7), Katsina (7), Kano (4) and Jigawa (1).
As of press time, a total of 3.75 million tests have been carried out across the country, representing less than 2% of the entire population.
Meanwhile, the latest numbers bring Lagos state total confirmed cases to 92,128 followed by Abuja (26,910), Rivers (14,261), Kaduna (10,437), Plateau (10,135), Oyo (9,770), Edo (7,296), Ogun (5,660), Ondo (4,817), Delta (4,705), Kano (4,647), Akwa Ibom (4,487), Kwara (4,185), Osun (3,107), Enugu (2,890), Gombe (2,784), Nasarawa (2,517), Anambra (2,489), Katsina (2,377), and Imo (2,310).
Abia State has recorded 2,121 cases, Ebonyi (2,062), Benue (1,907), Ekiti (1,898), Bauchi (1,851), Borno (1,532), Bayelsa (1,290), Taraba (1,269), Adamawa (1,157), Niger (1,077), Sokoto (810), Cross River (696), Jigawa (627), Yobe (502), Kebbi (470), Zamfara (375), while Kogi state has recorded 5 cases only.
What this means
The recent increase in 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 could cause some form of movement restrictions.
With the current Christmas festivities in the country, an uncontrolled spread of the virus could be counterproductive for the recovery of the economy.