Nigeria records 195 new cases of COVID-19, total now 1532

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control has confirmed 196 new cases of COVID-19 in 11 states and the federal capital territory (FCT).

This was announced just before midnight on Wednesday on the agency's Twitter handle.

The NCDC report shows that Lagos is clearly climbing into a new phase of the infection with 80 new infection.

There have been concerns about the COVID-19 cases and the increasing deaths in the state, which the NCDC and the state government are investigating.

The bulk of the new cases were recorded in the northern part of the country.

The number of deaths rose from 40 to 44 as four more died of the disease on Tuesday, while 255 patients had been successfully treated and discharged.

The NCDC DG, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, said this at the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 media briefing in Abuja. The way we talk about it, we've had the largest number of Lassa fever cases in Nigeria ever.

"As of today, we insist that Kogi State has no confirmed case of COVID-19, or any case to the knowledge of our vigilant medical structures".

He said, "We're going to send at least 200 ventilators to Nigeria; probably more than that".