Coronavirus: Nigeria records 462 new infections

Nigeria on Friday confirmed 462 new cases of COVID-19.

This brings the number of Coronavirus infections in Africa's biggest economy to 43,151, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

The new figure is slightly lower than the 481 cases reported on Thursday.

The agency made this known via its verified Twitter handle @NCDCgov on Friday. It said only one fatality was recorded from the virus in the past 24 hours pushing the total number of confirmed deaths from the virus to 879.

According to the NCDC, out of a total 43,151 infected persons so far, 19,565 have recovered and have been discharged after treatment in the country's 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The new cases, according to the NCDC, were found in the following 16 states:

FCT-93 Lagos-78 Plateau-64 Kaduna-54 Oyo-47 Ondo-32 Adamawa-23 Bauchi-19 Rivers-9 Ogun-9 Delta-9 Edo-7 Kano-6 Enugu-6 Nasarawa-5 Osun-1

About a third of Nigeria's cases (over 15,000) were recorded in Lagos, the country's commercial capital. The second most affected place in Nigeria is Abuja, the capital city with 3,803 cases.

Nigeria is Africa's third most impacted behind only South Africa and Egypt. The federal and state governments are working to increase testing as authorities stress that cases definitely far exceed the current tally with less than 300,000 people tested so far.

Nigeria has tested almost 280,000 of its 200 million population.

The country continues to record hundreds of new COVID-19 cases daily but has also had to reopen its economy as authorities seek to balance health needs with the economic needs of the populace. Schools are being reopened gradually, domestic flights have resumed, while markets and religious centres are also gradually being reopened.