Nigeria records 601 new COVID-19 cases, total now 51,905

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has confirmed 601 new cases of COVID-19 in the country, bringing the total number to 51,905.

The NCDC made the announcement on Saturday night via its Twitter handle.

“601 new cases of #COVID19Nigeria; Lagos-404 FCT-37 Oyo-19 Ondo-14 Abia-13 Enugu-13 Kaduna-13 Edo-12 Kano-12 Kwara-11 Ebonyi-10 Nasarawa-7 Ogun-6 Osun-5 Delta-5 Niger-5 Plateau-4 Bayelsa-4 Katsina-3 Ekiti-2 Imo-2.”

Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation said on Friday that it hopes the planet will be rid of the coronavirus pandemic in less than two years — faster than it took for the Spanish flu.

“We hope to finish this pandemic before less than two years,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters from the WHO’s headquarters in Geneva, adding that it should be possible to tame the coronavirus faster than the deadly 1918 pandemic.

Compared to back then, the world today is at a disadvantage due to its “globalisation, closeness, connectedness”, which has allowed the novel coronavirus to spread around the world at lightning speed, Tedros acknowledged.

But the world also now has the advantage of far better technology, he added.