Nigeria on Monday recorded 565 new COVID-19 cases and eight deaths, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has said.

The NCDC stated on Tuesday that this brings the total infections, since the index case in 2020, to 187,588.

The NCDC attributed the surge to the highly transmissible Delta variant and low vaccination rates across the country.

The centre also said that eight COVID-19 related deaths were reported on Monday, bringing the total fatality figure to 2,276.

It stated that the new cases were reported in 13 states and the FCT.

The centre noted that Lagos State recorded the highest infections with 205, while Rivers followed with 73 cases, Ondo-63, FCT-53, Oyo-53, Ekiti-37, Delta-24, Edo-20, and Benue-12.

Others are Bayelsa-six, Kwara-six, Osun-six, Ogun-five, and Adamawa-two.

According to the centre, Monday’s report includes a backlog of seven cases reported from Benue on August 17, one on August 18 and four on August 19.

The public health agency did not indicate if majority of the known active cases were from the contagious Delta variant.

The agency stated that over 2,727,834 people had been tested, while 168,818 patients recovered following the discharge of 363 additional people on Sunday.

The centre added that the multi-sectoral national emergency operations centre, activated at Level II, has continued to coordinate the national response activities.

Meanwhile, the agency has announced that its toll free number has been changed to “Dial 6232 for FREE”.

If you have a cough, you are feverish and any of these symptoms: Loss of taste/smell, difficulty breathing, diarrhoea, catarrh, fatigue, ‪shivering‬‬, body pain, headache and sore throat, please stay at home and contact your state ministry of health via http://covid19.ncdc.gov.ng/contact. (NAN)

Justin Nwosu

Justin Nwosu is the founder and publisher of Flavision. His core interest is in writing unbiased news about Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. He’s a strong adherent of investigative journalism, with a bent on exposing corruption, abuse of power and societal ills.