For the second successive day, Nigeria has broken its daily new coronavirus cases record.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), on Tuesday, confirmed 1,354 new infections.
This is a new high compared to 1,204 amassed the previous day.
According to the NCDC, the cases were recorded across 20 states and the federal capital territory (FCT) .
Lagos, which recorded the most new cases, confirmed 712 infections — its highest daily count ever.
FCT had the second highest number of new infections with 145 infections, followed by Plateau with 117.
However, one person was confirmed to have died of COVID-19 complications on Tuesday, increasing the fatality toll to 1,319.
Read also: 138 corps members test positive for Covid-19— NCDC
NCDC also confirmed that 697 patients were discharged on Tuesday, which included “324 community recoveries in Lagos state and 137 community recoveries in FCT managed in line with guidelines”.
Out of 14,990 active cases being managed across states in Nigeria, only Lagos and FCT have more than 1,000 patients — 5,100 people currently have coronavirus in Lagos, while there are 4,593 in the FCT.
A total of 92,705 cases have now been confirmed since February 27, 2020, but 76,396 patients have recovered.
Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the establishment of at least one oxygen plant in each of the 36 states which will help provide life support for coronavirus patients.
This was disclosed by the Chairman of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 and Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr Boss Mustapha, on Tuesday during the task force’s media briefing in Abuja.
Mustapha revealed that 100 cylinders of oxygen would be supplied daily by the Private Sector Coalition in the fight against COVID-19 (CACOVID) until the end of March 2021 to critical care centres in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
Read also: COVID-19: We have sent 100m text messages to Nigerians – NCDC
He said this was part of the efforts made to save the lives of Nigerians and strengthen the fight against coronavirus in the country.
“In the last two weeks, a lot has been discussed on case management and in particular, the availability of oxygen to save lives. We are pleased to inform you that the private sector – CACOVID has commenced supporting our response with 100 oxygen cylinders per day till the end of March, 2021, for distribution to critical care centres in Abuja.
“Furthermore, approval has been given to rehabilitate five oxygen plants across various tertiary health institutions in Abuja. The President has also approved that at least one oxygen plant should be established in each state of the federation immediately,” he said.
