NCDC admits error, gives update on COVID-19 cases

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control said it committed an error in announcing confirmed cases of coronavirus in the country.

It said that the total number of cases in Nigeria as of 10:40 pm on Saturday was 541 and not the 542 that was earlier reported.

With the correction, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Ekiti is now 3 and not 4.

Lagos State has the highest number of infections with 306 cases, followed by the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja which has 81 cases.

The NCDC subsequently apologized for the error via its Twitter handle on Sunday.

NCDC said: “Yesterday, we erroneously reported one new case in Ekiti. This was wrong and was caused by an error in the verification process.

“Therefore, as of April 18, 2020, there are 541 confirmed cases, 166 discharged and 19 deaths.

“Ekiti state has 3 confirmed cases, NOT 4.

“We apologise to the Government of Ekiti State for this error.

“We remain committed to improving our quality control processes, to ensure accurate and transparent reporting of cases.”

However, as at 10:40 pm 18th April, the correct breakdown of cases by state is as follows:

Lagos- 306
FCT- 81
Kano- 37
Osun- 20
Oyo- 16
Edo- 15
Ogun- 12
Kwara- 9
Katsina- 9
Bauchi- 6
Kaduna- 6
Akwa Ibom- 6
Delta- 4
Ekiti- 3
Ondo- 3
Enugu- 2
Rivers-2
Niger- 2
Benue- 1
Anambra- 1