1,761 recoveries in one week as Nigeria's COVID-19 toll nears 18,000

There was a significant increase in the country’s recovery toll on Wednesday with 344 people discharged in 24 hours.

This is the second highest number of persons discharged in a day since the country recorded its first COVID-19 case on February 27, 2020.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) announced the figure in its update on Wednesday night, which is a significant improvement from June 9, when the total number of recoveries was 4,206.

With the latest development, a total of 1,761 persons have been discharged in the period of one week.

Meanwhile, the highest daily recovery toll was recorded on June 12 with 397 persons discharged in that single count.

The agency also confirmed 587 new cases of the coronavirus disease in 17 states and the federal capital territory on Wednesday.

While 344 people were discharged, increasing the recoveries from 5,623 to 5,967, the number of fatalities rose from 455 to 469.

A total of 17,735 COVID-19 infections have now been recorded in 35 states and the FCT.

587 new cases of #COVID19Nigeria;

Lagos-155
Edo-75
FCT-67
Rivers-65
Oyo-56
Delta-50
Bayelsa-25
Plateau-18
Kaduna-18
Enugu-17
Borno-12
Ogun-12
Ondo-7
Kwara-4
Kano-2
Gombe-2
Sokoto-1
Kebbi-1

17,735 confirmed
5,967 discharged
469 deaths pic.twitter.com/vUBukvZYTN

— NCDC (@NCDCgov) June 17, 2020

Meanwhile, as of June 16, more than 100,000 samples have been tested in the country.

Of the total of 103,799 samples tested according to figures from the situation reported of the NCDC, inly Lagos and the FCT have tested more than 10,000 samples.

While Lagos has the highest figure with 32,899, a total of 13,555 samples have been tested in the FCT.

As part of efforts to increase testing capacity, the agency has approved four more facilities in its molecular laboratory network.

The new laboratories are located in Ekiti, Abuja and Kano.

A total of 38 laboratories have now been approved to carry out COVID-19 testing in the country.