COVID Surges As NCDC Drops New Hotline

By James Orji

The number of COVID 19 cases in Nigeria is surging, the National Centre for Disease Control, NCDC has said.

The development comes on the crest of announcement of a new hotline by the agency, for those who wish to contact it.

The agency 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,” NCDC said

The centre announced on Tuesday that 565 new COVID cases were recorded on Monday while eight people died of the pandemic.

The NCDC said the figure brings the total infections to 187, 588 since the index case in 2020.

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.

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

It 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 cases reported from Benue on Aug. 17 , one on Aug. 18 and four on Aug. 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 million 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.