BY FOLASHADE KEHINDE
THE Federal Government has insisted that the new highly transmittable variant of COVID-19 has not been detected in Nigeria.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control made this position clear on its Twitter handle, on Friday, in reaction to unverified reports that the variant might have found its way into the country.
It explained that the centre was able to determine the absence of the new COVID-19 variant in Nigeria through genomic sequencing, which was conducted in partnership with the African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases and the Redeemer’s University, Ede, Osun State.
“Viruses mutate, the emergence of new variant strains of COVID-19 isn’t news. Genomic sequencing in Nigeria shows no evidence yet of variants associated with the increased transmission, but we’re looking,” the NCDC said.
Meanwhile, the centre registered 1,867 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of infections in Nigeria to 107,345.
It noted that eight people also died from the virus in the last 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 1,413.
The centre added that the new cases were reported from 23 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The public health agency said that Lagos State reported 713 infections, Plateau, 273; FCT, 199; Kaduna, 117; and Oyo, 79.
Other were Enugu-58, Ondo-53, Kano-49, Sokoto-43, Ogun-37, Osun-37, Nasarawa-36, Rivers-28, Benue-24, Delta-24, Niger-24, Gombe-18, Edo-15, Taraba-12, Bayelsa-10, Ekiti-9, Borno-6, Zamfara-2 and Jigawa-1.
It stated that 705 patients across the nation had been treated successfully and recovered from the virus in the last 24 hours, adding that the number of recovered patients had risen to 84,535.
“Our discharges today include 277 community recoveries in Lagos State, 150 in Kaduna and 78 in Plateau, managed in line with guidelines,” the NCDC said.
It added that a multi-sectoral national Emergency Operations Centre (EOC), activated at Level 3, was coordinating response activities nationwide.
The centre, however, said it would not relent in its disease surveillance efforts.
The 1,867 new infections recorded in the last 24 hours, it was learnt, were the highest single-day rise since the index case was confirmed on February 27, 2020.
Last week, the country surpassed its existing highest weekly record of COVID-19 infections by recording over 9,800 cases in seven days.
