The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has announced 661 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 19, 808.

Nineteen deaths were recorded from the virus on Saturday bringing the total number of confirmed deaths from the virus to 506.

There was a slight drop in the number of confirmed cases reported Saturday evening (661) compared to what was reported on Friday (667).

The health agency in a tweet Saturday evening said the new cases were reported in 14 states.

These are Lagos, Rivers, Delta, FCT, Oyo, Edo, Bayelsa, Kaduna, Plateau, Ondo, Nasarawa, Ekiti Kano and Borno.

Rivers State recorded its highest daily number of confirmed cases yet, with 127 cases on Saturday.

All the reporting states already had at least a case of the virus.

In the past few days, reported cases in Edo, FCT, Rivers Oyo, and Delta have been increasing rapidly.

As of the time of reporting, 35 states and the FCT have recorded at least a case of the disease. Only one state, Cross River, is yet to report any case of the virus.

Lagos recorded its highest daily figure of the infection and remains the epicenter for the disease in the country.

According to NCDC, the 661 new cases are reported from 14 states- Lagos – 230, Rivers – 127, Delta – 83 FCT – 60, Oyo – 51, Edo – 31, Bayelsa – 27, Kaduna – 25, Plateau – 13, Ondo – 6, Nasarawa – 3, Ekiti – 2, Kano – 2 and Borno – 1.

“To date, 19808 cases have been confirmed, 6718 cases have been discharged and 506 deaths have been recorded in 35 states and the Federal Capital Territory,“ it stated.

BREAKDOWN

Since the onset of the outbreak in Nigeria in February, NCDC said 111, 052 samples have so far been tested.

As at the time of reporting, there are 12, 584 active cases of COVID-19 in the country, 6, 718 have recovered and have been discharged.

A breakdown of the 19, 808 confirmed cases shows that Lagos State has so far reported 8, 407 cases, followed by FCT – 1,549, Kano – 1,184, Oyo – 860, Edo – 779, Rivers – 866, Ogun – 623, Kaduna – 552, Borno – 476, Gombe – 451, Bauchi – 447, Katsina – 426, Delta – 502, Jigawa – 317, Ebonyi – 234, Plateau – 220, Imo – 205, Nasarawa – 184, Kwara – 180, Sokoto – 135, Ondo – 134, Bayelsa – 155, Enugu – 126, Zamfara – 76, Kebbi – 67, Anambra – 66, Niger – 66, Yobe – 56, Osun – 54, Akwa Ibom – 65, Adamawa – 42, Benue – 39, Ekiti – 34, Taraba – 18, Taraba – 18, and Kogi – 3.

NCDC has attributed the increasing numbers of confirmed cases in the country to the increase in the number of testing centers.

The health agency has also advised the elderly and those with underlying health conditions like asthma, hypertension, and diabetes have a higher risk of severe illness from COVID-19

“If you have an elderly or ill family member, take extra care to reduce their risk of exposure,” it stated.