Coronavirus: NCDC Confirms 1,617 New COVID-19 Cases In Nigeria

The Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) on Monday evening, 18th January 2021, confirmed 1,617 new cases of Coronavirus disease infection in Nigeria.

The new cases of COVID-19 infection were confirmed via a statement on the official Twitter handle of the health agency.

This brings the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Nigeria to 112,004 which includes 89,939 discharged cases and 1,449 deaths.

Below is the breakdown of the latest cases according to states with Lagos State having the highest number of cases followed by Kaduna State.

Lagos-776
Kaduna-147
Kwara-131
FCT-102
Plateau-78
Edo-59
Ogun-53
Osun-45
Rivers-37
Taraba-36
Nasarawa-34
Adamawa-33
Kano-26
Delta-20
Ebonyi-16
Bayelsa-11
Gombe-11
Borno-2

1,617 new cases of #COVID19Nigeria;

Lagos-776
Kaduna-147
Kwara-131
FCT-102
Plateau-78
Edo-59
Ogun-53
Osun-45
Rivers-37
Taraba-36
Nasarawa-34
Adamawa-33
Kano-26
Delta-20
Ebonyi-16
Bayelsa-11
Gombe-11
Borno-2

112,004 confirmed
89,939 discharged
1,449 deaths pic.twitter.com/mXAJHlCEhw

— NCDC (@NCDCgov) January 18, 2021

Meanwhile, the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu has revealed that it wasn’t the original plan of the federal government to allow school resumption by January 18 due to the surge in COVID-19 infections.

While speaking on Monday, the Minister declared that it was the state governments that put pressure on the federal government to reopen the schools and allow students go back to school.

It will be recalled that after reaching a consensus with Governors, Commissioners, and other stakeholders, the Federal Government okayed the resumption of schools on January 18, 2021.

The consensus was reached at a meeting between the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu and Commissioners of Education in Abuja.

However, in a fresh update in which he explained why the federal government had to concede, Adamu noted the state governments had more schools and the issue of education is not in the exclusive preserve or control of the federal government, hence the reason for conceding the January 18 resumption date.

He however noted that the situation is been monitored and if necessary, the schools may be shut down again to prevent further spread of the coronavirus disease.