Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, as at end of June 2020 was Africa’s third most impacted country only behind South Africa and Egypt.
As Africa’s biggest economy, the federal government has continued to enforce regulations across the board even though most state governments have moved to relax restrictions.
The national response is led by the Presidential Task Force, PTF, led by SGF Boss Mustapha along with a national coordinator and relevant ministers – chief among them, Health, Foreign Affairs and Education ministries. At the heart of the response is the Nigeria Center for Disease Control, NCDC.
This article is dedicated to covering events from the country throughout the month of July. Our May 2020 page and June 2020 coverage also gives you a rundown of major developments.
July 19: 36,107 cases; Foreign Affairs Minister infected
Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama confirmed today that he had tested positive for the virus, becoming the latest top politician to be infected.
He disclosed via Twitter that his positive result came from his fourth test since the virus entered the country. He said he was going into isolation in a health facility.
“Did my fourth Covid-19 test yesterday at the first sign of a throat irritation and unfortunately this time it came back positive. That is life! Win some lose some. Heading for isolation in a health facility and praying for the best,” his tweet read.
The Minister had been a key part of the PTF attending most of its meetings and giving key updates especially in the area of evacuation of nationals from across the world. He had also been holding engagements with diplomats and other envoys at his office in Abuja.
Local airline Azman Airline also reported that it was evacuating national stranded in Saudi Arabia. The airline said 117 passengers were on board the flight expected to arrive in Abuja in the early hours of Monday.
Confirmed cases = 36,107
Active cases = 20,391
Recoveries = 14,938
Number of deaths = 778
John Hopkins Uni stats valid as of July 18, 2020
BREAKING NEWS.
EVACUATION FLIGHT
We are pleased to announce that AzmanAir is currently operating an Evacuation Flight out of JeddahFlight ZQ380/381 conveying 117 Stranded Nigerians will arrive Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja early hours of 20th July#AzmanAirCares pic.twitter.com/gS8A3rrACM— AzmanAir – #LetsFlyAzmanAir (AzmanAir) July 19, 2020
Some of the evacuees are Nigerians in France, Hungary, Romania, Poland, Norway, Germany, Holland, UK and Canada. All passengers tested negative before boarding. #StayHomeSaveLives #COVID19 #PTFCOVID19 NigeriaGov DigiCommsNG FMICNigeria— Geoffrey Onyeama (GeoffreyOnyeama) July 19, 2020
July 13: 32,558 cases; eight states with over 1,000 cases
Nigeria’s case load reached 32,558 as of close of day July 12, 2020. The NCDC stats indicated that over 550 new cases were recorded. Recoveries hit 13,447 whiles the death toll stood at 740.
Seven states along with the capital Abuja had recorded over 1,000 cases since the index case was
