The recorded positive cases of the rampaging coronavirus in Nigeria has zoomed to 627 as at 11.50 pm on Sunday.
On Saturday, the record stood at 542 positive cases and 19 deaths.
While the latest disclosure by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) shows 170 discharged patients and 21 deaths, the country also recorded 86 new cases of the virus with 70 cases in Lagos, the commercial capital of Nigeria.
NCDC says as at 11:50 pm April 19 there are 627 confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported in Nigeria. Crawling behind Lagos is Abuja with seven new cases. While there are three fresh cases each in Akwa Ibom and Katsina states, Jigawa, Bauchi and Borno states have one case each, making it a total of 86 new cases in Nigeria.
Director-General of NCDC, Chikwe Ihekweazu, has said that the deadly virus pandemic will spread to all the 36 states of the country.
He was speaking on Channels Television Sunrise Daily programme on Thursday where he said the coronavirus will spread to all states as he compared the virus to Lassa Fever.
“We have responded to Lassa smoothly and nobody shut down the country because it wasn’t necessary, the response was fairly efficient.
“Now, COVID-19 is on a much larger scale – at the moment in 22 states but it will grow to every state in Nigeria, there is no reason why it won’t – it is a respiratory virus”, he says.
Meanwhile, in Kano, the state government has shut down Tiamin Rice Limited over allegation of air pollution which aggravates coronavirus patients.
The state Ministry of Environment shut down the rice company over allegation of air pollution.
Deputy Managing Director of the company, Aliyu Ibrahim, made the development known in a statement that the state government claims that it decided following complaints of air pollution.
But, almost 30 rice mills are operating in the state, and Tiamin Rice appears to be the only one affected by the shutdown.
The management of the shutdown rice company, however, claims that Tiamin Rice is over 20 kilometres distance away from an isolation centre at Sani Abacha Stadium.
According to Ibrahim; “Tiamin Rice is a leading rice mill in Kano, which produces 320 metric tonnes of rice daily, and has 223 workers on its payroll and additional over 100 casual staff.
“The decision of the state government to shut down the company was conveyed to us in a Notice for Closing Order dated April 18, 2020, citing an unfounded allegation of air pollution that aggravates coronavirus patients.
“In his nationwide address, President Muhammadu Buhari has exempted all food production and processing companies to minimise the impact of the pandemic on the nation and ensure food security.”
