As Nigeria recorded 573 new Coronavirus (COVID-19) cases on Monday, Nigeria Centre For Disease Control (NCDC) has warned Nigerians to avoid “unnecessary mass gatherings.”
The NCDC also said that it is “socially unacceptable to be seen outside the home without face masks.”
The health agency said in its official Twitter handle that till date, out of Nigeria’s total confirmed cases of 16,658, 10,885 are active cases while 5,349 patients have been treated and discharged.
It added that Nigeria recorded 424 deaths in 35 States and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
And out of the 573 new cases of COVID-19, NCDC said that Lagos State reported the highest number of cases with 216 new cases, followed by Rivers State with 103 new infections.
Others include Oyo (68), Edo (40), Kano (21), Gombe (20), FCT (17), Delta (13), Plateau (12), Bauchi (12), Niger (10), Kebbi ( (9) Ogun (8), Ondo (8), Abia (7), Nasarawa (5), Borno (1), Kwara (1), Benue (1), Anambra (1).
The healthy agency said that the increase in the number of COVID-19 cases across States of the federation calls for Nigerians to TakeResponsibility, especially with the use of masks, avoiding mass gatherings and practice of hygiene especially hand washing.
NCDC stated that “the health of each of us depends on our collective action,“ it said.
The health agency regretted the attitude of some Nigerian who gave them fictitious names and fictitious addresses while getting their samples.
According to NCDC, “we can only vouch for the results of the samples. There is no reason whatsoever to doubt the reality of COVID-19 in Nigeria. In fact, we believe there are more cases out there than we have found. Behind each of those numbers we announce daily are people.
“Four Governors have themselves announced they’ve been infected. We have to make it socially unacceptable to be seen outside the home without face masks. We must also discourage unnecessary mass gatherings.”