The number of coronavirus cases in Nigeria has picked pace rising from 22 on Saturday to 31 on Sunday stoking greater concerns by the government and people of Nigeria.
According to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, the cases included 22 in Lagos State, four in the Federal Capital Territory, one in Oyo State and one in Ekiti State.
NCDC announced this its twitter handle on Sunday.
The centre said the two in Ogun State, including the Italian index case, had tested negative and had been discharged.
A national newspaper, ThePunch reported in its online platform that the 11:32pm on Sunday, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar tweeted late Sunday night (11.32pm) that one of his sons had tested positive for the disease.
The NCDC stated, “Three new cases of #COVID19 have been confirmed in Lagos, Nigeria. Two cases are returning travellers and one is a contact of a confirmed case. As of 05:28 pm on the 22nd of March, there are 30 confirmed cases of #COVID19 in Nigeria. Two have been discharged with no deaths.”
Nigeria recorded its first coronavirus case on February 27 when an Italian was diagnosed with the disease.
On March 19, the cases rose to 12 with most of the affected people being returnees from Europe and the United States. On Saturday, the cases increased to 22 with Abuja recording its first cases.
As of 11am on Sunday, the NCDC said the cases were 27 in the country. It stated that the cases included 19 in Lagos; four in the FCT; one in Ekiti; one in Oyo and two in Ogun.
But on Sunday evening, the number increased to 31 with three new cases in Lagos State and Atiku’s son who tested positive.
Atiku’s son tests positive
On Sunday night former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar said one of his sons had tested positive for Covid19.
Atiku, who was the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the last election, said this in a tweet on Sunday night.
The former Vice-President said his son had been moved to the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Gwagwalada.
He tweeted, “My son has tested positive to coronavirus. @NCDCGov has been duly informed, and he has been moved to Gwagwalada Specialist Teaching Hospital in Abuja for treatment and management.
“I will appreciate it if you have him in your prayers. Stay safe, coronavirus is real.”
The wife of the President, Aisha Buhari, had last week tweeted that her daughter, who recently returned from the United Kingdom, was in self-isolation
Stay at home, Lagos tells civil servants
The Lagos State Government, as part of efforts to curb the spread of the disease, on Sunday directed civil servants from grade level one to 12 to work from home starting from today (Monday).
The state Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, at a press conference, said the stay-at-home order would last for an initial period of 14 days.
He commended Lagosians, who abided by the state government’s directive that banned a gathering of over 50 people, but warned those who flouted the order.
He stated, “In addition to this directive, I am now also directing all public officers in the entire unified public service from grade level 1 to 12, which constitute about 70 per cent of our workforce, to stay at home from Monday, March 23 for 14 days at the first instance.”
