Five states account for 60 per cent of Nigeria’s almost 47,000 COVID -19 cases, the Presidential Task Force (PTF) said on Monday.
It said 689 of the 774 local government areas have reported cases of the pandemic while 85 councils in 20 states remain with no testing done and no cases.
Besides, 50 per cent of all cases are in 20 councils.
Secretary to the Government of the Federation and Chairman of the PTF Boss Mustapha, gave the statistics during a briefing in Abuja.
He said: “Nigeria, with 46,577 confirmed cases and 945 cumulative deaths, remains respectively the third and fourth highest in these parameters.
“As we emphasised at the last briefing, Nigeria is yet to reach the peak of the pandemic.
“Therefore, the low test/ case confirmation numbers coming out daily should not be misinterpreted to mean that we have overcome.
“We have over time ramped up testing, but more needs to be done to raise the quantum of test per million.”
Mustapha urged Nigerians to be vigilant and take extra care to avoid contracting the virus as the numbers surge.
He said: “Today, the global numbers of confirmed cases surpassed 20 million and 750,000 deaths.
“These statistics remain serious warning signals accompanied by pains and anguish to families and friends that have lost loved ones.
“Africa’s confirmed cases have surpassed one million mark, which is a landmark.
“The challenge, however, is that the true numbers could be higher because we suspect strongly that for every reported case, up to seven might have been missed.
“The numbers are surging. Community spread has taken root and expanded beyond the urban areas. The watchword is vigilance and taking extra care.”
Mustapha said the PTF is happy to note that many survivors are telling their stories and sharing them on social media.
Lagos, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Oyo and two others account for 59 per cent of COVID-19 cases
Five states have so far accounted for 59.11 per cent of the total COVID-19 cases.
They are Lagos (15,875), FCT (4,467), Oyo (2,868), Edo (2,382) and Rivers (1,939).
The total number of confirmed cases as of August 9 is 46,577.
Also Monday, the Federal Government said it plans to decontaminate the examination centres daily.
It said 40,000 volunteer environmental health officers have been recruited and deployed to monitor the centres.
Minister of Environment, Muhammad Abubakar, who spoke at the PTF briefing, said: “We have concluded the decontamination of the examination centres.
“The Federal Ministry of Environment alongside licensed environment health officers undertook the exercise and we completed it last Thursday in all the 36 states of the country including the FCT.
“There will be daily decontamination of the examination halls.”
