The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control has said there is no state in the country that is free of coronavirus.
NCDC Director-General, Chikwe Ihekweazu, said this during the media briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 in Abuja, monitored by our correspondent on Monday.
This is coming amidst claims that Cross River State is yet to record any case of COVID-19.
Ihekweazu said, “No state, no single state in Nigeria is COVID-19-free, not one. No country in the world is COVID-19-free. Even New Zealand, that is an island state is still having new cases after a period of not having any.
“We can’t separate ourselves from the rest of the country. We live in a context, viruses spread, it’s the nature of them, so right now no state is COVID-19-free. That’s why we have to keep doing this work that we are doing, testing people, finding out if they have it.”
However, in its announcement on Sunday, the NCDC noted that no new state has reported a case in the last 24 hours.
It also added that as of 11.30pm on Sunday, 20, 244 cases have been confirmed, 6,879 cases have been discharged and 518 deaths have been recorded in 35 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
It said, “436 confirmed cases were reported in the last 24 hours from nineteen (19) states – Lagos (169), Oyo (52), Plateau (31), Imo (29), Kaduna (28), Ogun (23), Enugu (18), FCT (18),
Bauchi (17), Bayelsa (14), Rivers (8), Kano (6), Osun (6), Benue (5), Edo (5), Adamawa (3), Borno (2), Abia (1) and Ekiti (1).
“No new state recorded a confirmed COVID-19 case in the last 24 hours. The total number of states including FCT that have reported at least one confirmed case in Nigeria is still 36 (35 states + FCT).
“161 cases were discharged in the last 24 hours in thirteen (13) states – Edo (36), Rivers (35), Gombe (20), Kaduna (16), FCT (11), Plateau (11), Borno (9), Lagos (8), Niger (4), Akwa Ibom (3), Benue (3), Ogun (3) and Bauchi (2).
“12 deaths were recorded in the last 24 hours in nine (9) states – Lagos (3), FCT (2), Adamawa (1), Bayelsa (1), Niger (1), Ondo (1), Osun (1), Plateau (1) and Rivers (1).”