The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has recorded 11 COVID-19-related deaths in the last 24 hours, adding to a recent surge in infections driven by Delta variant spread in the country.

The NCDC added that the country recorded 444 infections on Tuesday.

The new infections indicated an increase from the 407 cases announced a day earlier. Over the past few weeks, the infection rate has risen since the discovery of the Delta strain of the disease, raising fears of renewed pressure on the health system.

The agency recorded 11 new deaths on Monday, bringing COVID-19 fatalities to 2,160.

Apart from Lagos state with 275, the highest daily figure of infections, Rivers ranked second with 63 cases, followed by Akwa Ibom with 62 reported cases, Gombe had 22; Ogun and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) recorded eight and four cases, respectively.

Edo recorded three, and Imo had two infections, while Kano, Nasarawa, Sokoto, Jigawa, and Ebonyi recorded one COVID-19 case each.

The NCDC added that six states (Ekiti, Oyo, Osun, Ondo, Kaduna, and Bauchi) reported no cases.

Meanwhile, the agency has put the country’s COVID-19 average test positivity rate at six per cent, saying that the increase in cases across states demonstrated that its surveillance system was working.

“We’ve built up our genomic sequencing capacity to detect emerging variants,” the NCDC added as it confirmed 32 Delta variant cases in five states.

NCDC’s director-general Chikwe Ihekweazu, who disclosed this at the resumed briefing of the Presidential Steering Committee, on Monday, in Abuja, cited Akwa Ibom as having nine of the cases.

Other areas included Lagos, Rivers, Oyo, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

(NAN)