Rivers records case; Nigeria’s total rises to 51

The health agency on Wednesday reported five new cases of coronavirus, with two cases each in Abuja and Lagos, and one in Rivers.

The announcement came less than 24 hours after the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, said all air, sea and land routes into the state will be closed to traffic at 6p.m. Thursday till further notice.

Mr Wike also banned all vehicular movements in and out of the state, as well as public events such as burials and weddings.

Also, public places such as parks, night clubs and cinemas have been closed.

New cases

The NCDC said out of the five new cases, three are returning travellers into Nigeria and two are close contacts of a confirmed case.

“As at 11:25 pm 25th March, there are, 51 confirmed cases, two discharge and one death,” it wrote on Twitter.

NCDC classified the cases as 48 active cases, two recovered and discharged and one death.

The death was a Nigerian with an underlying health condition.

Break down

A breakdown of cases by states shows that Lagos State still has the highest number of confirmed cases in the country with 32 cases, followed by Abuja with 10 cases, Ogun State three, and Ekiti, Oyo Edo, Bauchi Osun and Rivers have one case each.

Most of the cases reported are travellers who have just returned to the country. Other cases are people who have come in contact with infected people.

Some senior government officials have tested positive while others have self-isolated.

The positive cases include the Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, and the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari.

Meanwhile, most state governments have directed that some of its workers stay at home and not report to work.