Nigeria has recorded 288 new cases of the novel coronavirus, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.

In a tweet via its official handle late Friday, the NCDC said 179 new cases had been discovered in Lagos, the country’s hotspot.

In Kaduna, 20 new cases were recorded, 15 each in both Katsina and Jigawa, 13 in Borno, 11 in Ogun, eight in Kano, seven in the FCT, four each in Niger and Ekiti, three each in Oyo, Delta and Bauchi, two in Kwara and one in Edo.

288 new cases of #COVID19;

179-Lagos
20-Kaduna
15-Katsina
15-Jigawa
13-Borno
11-Ogun
8-Kano
7-FCT
4-Niger
4-Ekiti
3-Oyo
3-Delta
3-Bauchi
2-Kwara
1-Edo

5445 cases of #COVID19 in Nigeria
Discharged: 1320
Deaths: 171

— NCDC (@NCDCgov) May 15, 2020



The health agency also noted that the number of recovered cases had jumped from 1,180 on Thursday to 1,320, while the death toll increased by four to 171.


Earlier on Friday, the Chairman of the country’s task force overseeing efforts to combat the virus, Boss Mustapha, urged recovered patients not to give out details of their treatments in order to dissuade self-medication.

“We shall continue to encourage all Nigerians that see the symptoms to test, and if positive, go into the isolation centre for care by experts,” he said.

Mustapha, who is also the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, also announced that five states in Nigeria are participating in a World Health Organisation trial.

“At the end of this, relevant authorities will make statements on acceptable drugs for treating COVID-19,” he said.

The novel coronavirus has killed at least 304,619 people worldwide since the outbreak first emerged in China last December, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP at 1900 GMT Friday.

At least 4,491,730 cases of coronavirus have been registered in 196 countries and territories. Of these, at least 1,571,100 are now considered recovered.

The tallies, using data collected by AFP from national authorities and information from the World Health Organization (WHO), probably reflect only a fraction of the actual number of infections.

Many countries are testing only the most serious cases.

Over the past 24 hours, 4,981 deaths and 96,039 new cases have been recorded, with the most new fatalities reported in the United States with 1,759, Brazil with 844 and Britain with 384.

The US also has the highest number of deaths overall with 86,744 from 1,429,990 cases. At least 246,414 have been declared recovered.

Britain has the second highest toll with 33,998 deaths from 236,711 cases. It is followed by Italy with 31,610 deaths and 223,885 cases, France with 27,529 deaths and 178,870 infections and Spain with 27,459 fatalities and 230,183 cases.

The country with the highest number of deaths compared to its population is Belgium with 77 fatalities per 100,000 inhabitants, followed by Spain with 59, Italy 52, Britain 50 and France 42.

China — excluding Hong Kong and Macau — has to date declared 4,633 deaths and 82,933 cases. It has 78,209 recovered cases.

Europe has a total of 164,137 deaths from 1,848,598 cases, the United States and Canada have 92,386 deaths and 1,504,523 cases, Latin America and the Caribbean have 25,690 deaths and 454,107 cases, Asia has 11,696 deaths and 336,428 cases, the Middle East has 7,983 deaths and 262,778 cases, Africa has 2,601 deaths from 76,941 cases, and Oceania 126 deaths from 8,363 cases.

Corrections by national authorities or late publication of data mean the figures updated over the past 24 hours may not correspond exactly to the previous day’s tallies.