By Williams Anuku Abuja
The Federal Government of Nigeria says the COVID-19 pandemic has claimed a total of 858 lives in the country since the first index case was reported late February.
The government further revealed that 65 percent of those that have died were between 50 years and above, with majority of them nursing one terminal diseases or another.
Boss Mutapha, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 gave these figures on Monday in Abuja.
“Our analysis has shown that people over 50 years of age especially those with underlying factors remain most at risk. This position is backed by the fact that 65% of fatalities recorded in Nigeria are in this category,” he said.
“That brings me to the need to appeal to Nigerians on the need for a change of behavior and compliance with guidelines and measures put in place. If you do not need to go outside your home, please stay indoors. Avoid large gatherings and observe all the measures.”
Mustapha warned that these statistics should serve as wake up call to Nigerians that the virus is far from over.
At the global scale, 16,380,397 cases have been recorded from 215 countries, with deaths put at 651,198 and recoveries put at 10,093,403.
In Africa, cases of infections have reached 848,771 while death tolls stand at 17,791 and 495,660.recoveries.
Locally, Nigeria has a total case of 40,532 infections, deaths at 858 and recoveries placed at 17,374