Nigeria has confirmed five new cases of COVID-19.

This brings the total number of confirmed cases to 35.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control on its Twitter handle @NCDCgov said Monday that the five new cases were confirmed in Abuja, Lagos and and Edo states.

A breakdown of the new cases shows that two were confirmed in Abuja, two in Lagos and one in Edo.

Lagos currently has the highest cases with 24, Abuja has six, Ogun has recorded two cases, while Ekiti, Oyo and Edo have one each.

Two of the new cases were reported in travellers who recently returned from the UK.

The son of an opposition leader Atiku Abubakar, is believed to be one of the two new cases confirmed in Abuja.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how Mr Abubakar confirmed that one of his sons has contracted the disease.

The NCDC said “As at 09:45 am on 23rd March, there are 35 confirmed cases of COVID19 in Nigeria. Two have been discharged.”

Self isolation

As cases continue to soar in the country, the Director General, NCDC, Chikwe Ihekweazu, has blamed the increasing transmission on Nigerians returning from high risk countries refusing to self isolate as directed.

Mr Ihekweazu said at a programme on channels TV on Monday morning that “those returnee are our biggest risk”.

He said owners of private companies should allow non-essential staff to work from home and encourage Nigerians to take personal responsibility by observing social distancing and quick reporting.

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More cases

He said Nigerians should brace themselves as more Covid-19 cases will be reported in the country.

Mr Ihekweazu said NCDC will also be providing daily briefings in addition to real time release of information to ensure Nigerians are adequately informed.

He explained that the primary containment strategy is to identify all cases and follow up on all their contacts.

“Following up contacts have been difficult, the contacts are followed up by phone calls,” he said.

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