Nigeria records 1,149 COVID-19 cases, highest in over a year

Nigeria has recorded 1,149 new cases of coronavirus (COVID-19), the highest number of infections in any single day since February 2020.

The new cases have pushed the cumulative number of infections to 184,593.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) revealed that the new cases involve 393 persons in Lagos alone.

Active cases in Nigeria now stands at 14,619, which is an increase from the 13,756 cases reported in the previous day.

Furthermore, the NCDC indicated that it has successfully treated 167,738 COVID-19 cases as of Wednesday and has also tested a total of  2,648,684 since the beginning of the pandemic.

The virus has killed 2,149 people and infected nearly 174,000 in Nigeria, but the real figures are believed to be much higher, in part because of low testing rates.

Last month, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control said it had detected the Delta variant, putting officials on alert for the third wave of infections in the country.

In June, Nigeria barred passengers who are not citizens or permanent residents from entering the country if they have been in South Africa in the past 14 days.

The decision followed similar restrictions imposed on travellers coming from Brazil, India and Turkey.

Nigeria -- home to some 210 million people -- used the four million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine it received in March to start its nationwide inoculation programme.

Experts worry that the highly contagious Delta variant could pose another setback to vaccine distribution -- if wealthier countries begin requiring booster shots for fully vaccinated people, it could slow shipments of urgently needed doses to developing nations.