COVID-19 cases in Nigeria near 21,000

ABUJA

The number of coronavirus cases in Nigeria is nearing 21,000 with 675 new patients, the country’s health authorities said Tuesday.

The number of COVID-19 cases has reached 20,919, while seven more people have died from the virus in the past 24 hours, bringing the country’s death total to 525, Chikwe Ihekweazu, director general of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, told a news conference.

The number of recoveries has reached 7,109, Ihekweazu said, adding the virus has spread to all 36 states of the country.

After emerging last December in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the novel coronavirus has spread to at least 188 countries and regions, according to Johns Hopkins University in the US.

There are more than 9 million confirmed infections globally, including over 471,700 deaths and 4.51 million recoveries.