LAGOS (Reuters) – Nigeria’s confirmed coronavirus cases passed 30,000 on Wednesday, the country’s disease control centre said, as the virus spreads in Africa’s most populous country amid an easing of restrictions put in place to curb the disease.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), in its daily update posted on its website, said there were 460 new cases taking the total number of recorded cases to 30,249. NCDC said these had led to 684 deaths.
The country of 200 million inhabitants has, like many other African nations, so far avoided the high death rates of the United States, Brazil and parts of Europe. But health experts fear a lack of reliable data means the virus could be spreading unchecked in Africa.
Fearing the economic toll of the pandemic, Nigerian authorities have in recent weeks relaxed restrictions imposed to prevent the spread of the virus.
The resumption of domestic flights on Wednesday was the latest step and came a week after a ban on interstate travel was lifted.
(Reporting by Alexis Akwagyiram; Editing by Chris Reese and Lincoln Feast.)
