32 Delta variant coronavirus (COVID-19) infections have been confirmed by the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in five states throughout the country.
The NCDC’s Director-General, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, confirmed the news at the Presidential Steering Committee’s resumed briefing on Monday in Abuja, citing Akwa Ibom State as having nine of the cases.
Lagos, Rivers, and Oyo states, as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), are among the other regions in the country where at least one case of the Delta variety of COVID-19 has been verified, according to the NCDC chief.
According to Ihekweazu, the agency has increased its sequencing capability in order to gain a better grasp of the burden of the country’s worry variations.
He stated that the country has the capacity to sequence the variations, noting that Lagos state alone had three laboratories capable of doing so, in addition to the ACEGID lab in Ede and the NCDC’s National Reference Lab.
“We will continue to scale the weekly number of samples sequenced as part of our surveillance”, Ikekweazu said while stressing that the risk of virus mutation was higher when there was a high transmission of the virus.
“While sequencing is important for us to understand the situation, handwashing, physical distancing and the proper use of face masks are very important to prevent the spread of the virus,” he further said.
He stressed that Nigerians must continue to adhere to all preventive guidelines to stay protected from getting infected with the COVID-19 virus, while herd immunity can only be achieved when over 50 per cent of the population was vaccinated.
