With growing concern over the second wave of coronavirus infections across the country, the daily count stayed on a high mark, with 1,544 new cases confirmed across 20 states and the federal capital territory (FCT), on Friday.
The new cases were recorded in the update of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) for January 8, 2020.
While it is the fifth consecutive day that the country will confirm over 1,200 new samples positive for the coronavirus, over 8,500 fresh cases have been recorded within the past seven days.
A total of 8,824 new COVID-19 infections have been confirmed between January 2 and January 8, 2021.
Nigeria also hit its highest daily count of deaths within the past four months, with 12 new fatalities confirmed on Friday, increasing the current toll to 1,342.
The last time the single-day count of deaths exceeded 12 was on September 3, 2020 when 21 persons were confirmed to have died of coronavirus complications.
However, 540 persons were discharged on Friday, which included 264 recoveries in Lagos, and 147 in Plateau.
A total of 97,478 samples have been confirmed positive for COVID-19, but 78,552 patients have recovered; 17,584 are currently active cases.
