An average of 10 people died daily from COVID-19 in the past week in Nigeria.
More than 2,000 people have died from coronavirus in Nigeria since the disease first appeared in the country over a year ago.
Eight people died from the disease on Thursday, raising the fatality toll to 2,001, according to an update by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
The grim milestone was reached almost a year after the first death from the highly contagious disease was marked in Nigeria on March 23 and barely a week after the country commenced vaccination.
An average of 10 people died daily from COVID-19 in the past week in Nigeria. Thursday’s death figure raised the fatality toll in the past nine days to 94 in total.
“The reason for rise in fatalities is not far-fetched. When there is a sharp rise in new cases, there will definitely be more deaths”, said NCDC’s Chikwe Ihekweazu, during the worst phase of the virus earlier this year.
But while the death toll remained relatively high, there has been a reduction in infections.
On Thursday, Nigeria recorded 287 new COVID-19 infections in 18 states in continuation of a steady run of low figures.
Thursday’s tally which is lower than the 394 infections on Wednesday raised the total infections in the country to 159,933.
Nigeria reported an average of 1,000 infections daily between December and January. Infection figures have relatively reduced with daily cases hovering between 195 and 709 in the past two weeks.
The 195 cases last Saturday are the lowest reported since August 31, 2020, when there were 138 new infections.
Specifics
The 287 new cases were reported from 18 states: Lagos (107), Kwara (26), Akwa Ibom (23), Bauchi (22), Ogun (21), Rivers (19), Kaduna (14), FCT (11), Abia (8), Edo (8), Ekiti (6), Kano (5), Gombe (4), Osun (4), Oyo (3), Plateau (3), Nasarawa (2), and Delta (1).
Lagos had the highest toll on Thursday with 107 new cases, almost half of the days total. The city is the most affected by the disease in Nigeria.
Since the pandemic broke out in Nigeria in February last year, the country has carried out over 1.6 million tests.
More than two-thirds of the 159,000 people infected by COVID-19 in Nigeria has recovered after treatment.
According to NCDC data published Monday night, a total of 142,404 people have recovered after treatment.
Meanwhile, over 18,000 infections are still active in the country.
Last Friday, Nigeria commenced the vaccination of its citizens after receiving almost four million doses of the Oxford/Astrazeneca vaccines.
Priority is being given to health workers and other essential service providers.