BREAKING - Nigeria date 242 new coronavirus cases

Nigeria Centre for Disease Control has announced 242 new cases of

dreaded coronavirus.

With this, the number of confirmed cases in Nigeria climbed to 4641 NCDC disclosed on its Twitter handle.

Lagos, the epicenter of the virus in Nigeria, recorded 88 new persons while `Kano also had 64 new cases of the virus. 

Kastina got 49 new cases and Kaduna recorded 13 new cases.

Nine new cases were recorded in Ogun state and Gombe State reported six new cases. 

Adamawa got four new cases wand Nigeria’s national capital city, Abuja recorded three new cases.

NCDC announced one new case in Ondo, Oyo, Rivers, Zamfara, Borno and Bauchi states.

The number of fatalities increased from 143 to 150, while recoveries increased from 778 to 902.

The increase in the number of cases over the past few weeks has been attributed to increased testing.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the airlifting of Madagascar anti-coronavirus drink into the country for trials.

Although, World Health Organization (WHO) has warned against the drink stating that the drink’s efficacy is unproven and warned against “adopting a product that has not been taken through tests to see its efficacy”.

The herbal mixture is a drink derived from artemisia – a plant with proven efficacy in malaria treatment – and other indigenous herbs.

Isolated compounds extracted from artemisia are effective in malaria drugs WHO noted but said the plant itself cannot treat malaria.

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention also said the drink should be “tested rigorously”.

Health specialists are worried that people who drink the product might feel they are immune to COVID-19 and engage in risky behaviour, WHO’s Africa head Matshidiso Moeti said.

“We are concerned that touting this product as a preventive measure might then make people feel safe,” she said.

While the global health body is yet to approve the usage of the drink to treat coronavirus patients, many African countries like Nigeria are trusting the drink produced by Madagascar.