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ABUJA, (Xinhua) — Nigeria’s confirmed COVID-19 cases rose to 184,593 Wednesday after reporting 1,149 new cases in the day, the highest rise since the country declared the third wave of infections last month.

The Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) confirmed this in a daily update Thursday morning, adding seven new deaths were recorded, bringing the death toll to 2,236.

The 1,149 new cases were reported from 15 states and the federal capital territory, with Lagos, the country’s economic hub and epidemic centre, recording 680 cases and continuing to lead the country in daily new cases.

With the latest data given by the local disease control agency, Nigeria now has 14,619 active cases, following the discharge of 167,738 cases so far.

The surge in the number of cases is driven by the low vaccination rate in the country, as well as the highly transmissible Delta variant, according to the NCDC.

The agency did not update the latest number of Delta variants since Chikwe Ihekweazu, the head of the NCDC, revealed at a press conference in Abuja, capital of Nigeria, in early August that the Delta variant caseload rose to 32 and had been reported in five states across the country.

Nigeria has been grappling with the more deadly Delta strain of COVID-19 discovered in the country since early July.

On Monday, the most populous African country started the second phase of the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination program.

The Nigerian government had set an ambitious goal of vaccinating at least 40 percent of its population by end of the year, and 70 percent by the end of 2022. – Xinhua