Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has confirmed 10 new cases of Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic outbreak in the country.

The confirmed cases are three in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and seven from Lagos State, making Nigeria’s confirmed cases 184.

NCDC, through its verified Twitter account on Thursday, said as at 08:00 pm April 2 there were 184 confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported in Nigeria.

It said 20 had been discharged with two deaths.

NCDC said that currently, there were 92 cases in Lagos; Abuja 38, Oyo- eight; Osun- 14; Oyo – eight Ogun – four; Kaduna-four; AkwaIbom -Five, Edo -four, Bauchi- three Enugu and Ekiti with two cases each, while Rivers and Benue had one case.

Meanwhile, Director General of NCDC, Chikwe Ihekweazu, said the agency had started to see early signs of community transmission of COVID-19.

Ihekweazu said the lockdown in Lagos, Ogun and the FCT would be helpful as the NCDC continued to intensify efforts to detect and confirm cases of COVID-19.

He disclosed that the agency had the largest number of positive cases yesterday, adding that the NCDC had also the largest number of people tested ever yesterday.

The DG said that 71 per cent of all the 5,000 contacts they were tracing had been reached.

“Lagos has been transformational in this area. Tracing Teams have been able to take advantage of the restrictions to move very quickly in Lagos to reach all those listed,” he said.

He noted that the NCDC now had 15 Rapid Response Teams deployed in 15 states, for COVID-19.

He, however said that It was the largest ever deployment of public health resources in the country.

“And we are adding new states everyday.

“Our teams are building critical skills and gaining experience in a wide range of fields, not just Contact Tracing, but also Supply chain management, Laboratory Deployment,” he explained.

Ihekweazu, reassured the 36 states of the federation that the NCDC was here for them, to support them.

“I also want you to know that President Muhammadu Buhari has called on us to have one response across the country, a single lead coordinated response,” he added.

Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has reiterated its confidence in the test results conducted at the Molecular Laboratory at the Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital in Edo.

Director-General of NCDC, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, made the assertion while fielding questions at the daily media briefing hosted by the Presidential Taskforce Force (PTF) on COVID-19 on Thursday in Abuja.

Ihekweazu spoke against the backdrop of a statement from the Akwa Ibom Government refuting the number of persons currently with COVID-19 in the state.

The laboratory at Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital is one of the laboratories in Nigeria designated to diagnose COVID-19.

Others include the NCDC National Reference Laboratory; Virology Laboratory of Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, Lagos; Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR), Yaba, Lagos; and African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases.

They are the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan and the Virology Laboratory of Alex Ekwueme Federal Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki, Ebonyi. They are all in the NCDC Molecular laboratory network.

According to Ihekweazu, the Molecular Laboratory at Irrua is one of the oldest in the country and has experienced personnel who are competent.

However, the NCDC director-general said that people suspected or proven to have COVID-19 were usually retested after some days or periodically, saying that was the only way to know if they still have the virus or were free from it.

He urged government at all levels to unanimously collaborate in the fight against the pandemic.

Ihekweazu assured that the government and all agencies in the fight to curb the spread of COVID-19 would support all the states in the country to prevent or reduce the spread of the disease.

“I want to let all the states know that we are here for you, to support you.

“But, I also want you to know that Mr President has called on us to have one response across the country, a single coordinated response led by the PTF on COVID-19,” he said.

Earlier, the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, said the spike in fake news was distracting the Federal Government’s fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mohammed also debunked the trending news in the social media that the equipment and aid that Nigeria received from the Jack Ma Foundation in China were infected with the COVID-19 virus.