COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria

The first confirmed case in Nigeria was announced on 27 February 2020, when an Italian national in Lagos tested positive for the virus.

[4][5] On 9 March 2020, a second case of the virus was reported in Ewekoro, Ogun State, a Nigerian citizen who came into contact with the Italian national.

[9] This has been credited to a warmer climate, far younger populations (fewer people in care homes), faster government responses, and, crucially, experience in dealing with recent epidemics, such as the Ebola virus, that most Western countries lacked.

[14][15] On the same day, the World Health Organization listed Nigeria among other 13 African countries identified as high-risk for the spread of the virus.

[16] On 26 February, a Chinese citizen presented himself to the Lagos State government on suspicion of being infected with coronavirus.

[24][25][26] On 13 March, Nigeria confirmed that the second case no longer had the virus in his system and thus tested negative.

[35] During the significant drop of the cases recorded between September and November 2020 that lead to the relaxation of the lockdowns and re-opening of the economy to prevent the second phase of economic meltdown, the isolation centres in most states were partially closed, and the country relaxed the usage of face-masks in public places such as markets, public offices, event centers, restaurants, and bars.

[37] Model-based simulations indicate that the 95% confidence interval for the time-varying reproduction number R t was close to 1.0 in October.

[39] On 10 December, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, the Health Minister said that the second wave is imminent because of the rising number of cases; he added that the rise in cases was mostly driven by an increase in infections within communities and, to a lesser extent, travelers entering Nigeria.

[40] On the same day, Secretary to the Government of the Federation and chairman of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha said that the second wave of the pandemic has begun, following the increase in the number of COVID-19 cases detected in the country.

The Presidential Task Force said that this increase in cases showed that the country entered the second wave of the pandemic.

[42][43][44] On 24 December, John Nkengasong, Director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) told an online news conference from Addis Ababa that another new coronavirus variant has been found in Nigeria.

The number of recovered patients increased to 73,713, leaving 12,508 active cases at the end of the month.

The number of recovered patients increased to 104,989, leaving 26,667 active cases at the end of the month.

The number of recovered patients increased to 133,768, leaving 19,982 active cases at the end of the month.

The number of recovered patients increased to 151,648, leaving 9,186 active cases at the end of the month.

The number of recovered patients increased to 155,101, leaving 7,946 active cases at the end of the month.

[53] The number of recovered patients increased to 158,781, leaving 5,638 active cases at the end of the month.

The number of recovered patients increased to 163,985, leaving 1,438 active cases at the end of the month.

The number of recovered patients increased to 164,994, leaving 6,765 active cases at the end of the month.

The number of recovered patients increased to 178,759, leaving 11,203 active cases at the end of the month.

The number of recovered patients increased to 193,617, leaving 9,441 active cases at the end of the month.

The number of recovered patients increased to 203,248, leaving 5,817 active cases at the end of the month.

The number of recovered patients increased to 207,304, leaving 3,937 active cases at the end of the month.

The number of recovered patients increased to 214,296, leaving 25,014 active cases at the end of the month.