More than 2,000 people have died from coronavirus in Nigeria since the disease first appeared in the country over a year ago.
Eight people died from the disease on Thursday, raising the fatality toll to 2,001, according to an update by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
The grim milestone was reached almost a year after the first death from the highly contagious disease was marked in Nigeria on March 23 and barely a week after the country commenced vaccination.
An average of 10 people died daily from COVID-19 in the past week in Nigeria. Thursday’s death figure raised the fatality toll in the past nine days to 94 in total.
“The reason for rise in fatalities is not far-fetched. When there is a sharp rise in new cases, there will definitely be more deaths”, said NCDC’s Chikwe Ihekweazu, during the worst phase of the virus earlier this year.
But while the death toll remained relatively high, there has been a reduction in infections.
On Thursday, Nigeria recorded 287 new COVID-19 infections in 18 states in continuation of a steady run of low figures.
Thursday’s tally which is lower than the 394 infections on Wednesday raised the total infections in the country to 159,933.
Nigeria reported an average of 1,000 infections daily between December and January. Infection figures have relatively reduced with daily cases hovering between 195 and 709 in the past two weeks.
