December 10 in the history of Nigeria’s daily count of coronavirus cases ended with a significant mark, as for the first time in five months, the country recorded over 670 new infections.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) confirmed 675 new cases in 15 states and the federal capital territory (FCT) on Thursday.
The last time before December 10 that the daily count rose higher than 675 was on July 1, when 790 new infections were confirmed.
Interestingly, July 1 is also when the country had its highest record of positive samples — although there have been other daily counts above 650.
With the spike in the numbers over the past days, the country may just be on the verge of a second wave of COVID-19 infections, as affirmed by Osagie Ehanire, minister of health, at the media briefing of the presidential task force (PTF) on COVID-19, on Thursday.
”We are seeing the increase in the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the last few days, which we have frequently alluded to in recent times. This rightly suggests that we may just be on the verge of a second wave of this pandemic,” Ehanire had said.
Meanwhile, the fatality toll has risen to 1,190, with six new deaths recorded on Thursday.
The Thursday figure is the highest daily count of deaths in the past three months — the last time Nigeria recorded six fatalities in one day was on September 8.
NCDC also confirmed 232 new recoveries on Thursday, increasing the total number of discharged patients to 65,474.
A total of 71,344 cases have now been confirmed across the country.