By Audrey Lotechukwu
FRI, JULY 03 2020-theG&BJournal- The Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) have confirmed another 16 coronavirus deaths Thursday, taking the total number of fatalities to 616. The Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 and Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Boss Mustapha warned the number of fatalities will keep multiplying after he sent a very powerful get-well message to the Governor of Delta State, Ifeanyi Okowa whose family is stricken by the infection.
‘’Every time that I report here that we had a Zoom conference, the Governor of Delta State was the one that was chairing it on behalf of the sub-committee of the National Economic Council,’’ Mustapha said. ‘’As a professional and being a medical doctor, he has worked very hard to ensure that at least his State gets over the scourge of COVID-19. But he has succumbed to it in terms of testing positive, but I am very confident because of the goodness of his heart and the way he has worked very hard to protect his state, God will stretch His hands over himself and his household and they will come out stronger. I am confident about that,’’ he said during the during the Task Force daily coronavirus briefing in Abuja.
Mustapha also extended his good will message the Governor of Ondo State who also have tested positive for coronavirus.
The NCDC announced on Thursday night a cumulative total of 27,110 confirmed cases nationwide after 626 new cases were confirmed from 20 states. A total of 15,693 are active cases while 10,801 are reported as recoveries. NCDC said it has tested 141,525 samples but health experts tells theG&BJournal that testing programmes have to cover at least 60% of infections to keep the virus community spread under control.
Across the States, confirmed cases have continued to trend upward with 13 States already surpassing 500 confirmed cases and fatalities in double digit. Confirmed cases in the FCT have now surged to 2,020 after weeks of controlled growth of the infection in the Territory. Number of deaths at 35 however remains below that of Kano at 52- trailing only Lagos. Five states-Kano 1,257, Oyo-1,432, Edo 1,203, Rivers 1,114 and Delta 1,149- in all besides Lagos have recorded confirmed cases above 1000.
Lagos lead in latest cull of confirmed cases with 193 while Delta cases dropped significantly to 18 new cases from yesterday’s scary number of 166 confirmed cases. The States confirmed cases reads; FCT 85, Oyo 41, Edo 38, Kwara 34, Abia 31, Ogun 29, Ondo 28, Rivers 26, Osun 21, Akwa Ibom 18, Delta 18, Enugu 15, Kaduna 13, Plateau 11, Borno 8,Bauchi 7, Adamawa 5, Gombe 4 and Sokoto 1.
The PTF chair noted grimly that the fatalities and confirmed cases the country is recording now were figures of the confirmed cases of three weeks ago.
‘’The more the figures increases the more likelihood that the fatalities will also increase by way of percentages too. So we have a very serious issue. I want to ask those in authority and those at the followership level to resolve to do everything humanly possible to ensure that we secure ourselves,’’ he urged.
Meanwhile, over 10.680 million people have been stricken by the infection in 213 countries and territories around the world. The total confirmed cases in African countries are recorded at over 415,000 with more than 196,000 recoveries and 10,200 deaths, according to the WHO data.
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