The Edo government says it has recorded 82 new COVID-19 cases and three deaths from the disease in the last 72 hours.

The state’s COVID-19 Incident Manager, Dr Andrew Obi, made the disclosure in a statement issued on Monday in Benin.

He said that in the last seven days, 1,200 samples had been collected from the various screening and testing centres across the state.

According to him, “We have, in the last 72 hours, recorded 82 new coronavirus cases and three new deaths. There were 31 recoveries, while the active cases currently stand at 207.

“This disease surveillance mechanism was set up during the first wave of the pandemic and we are doing well to ensure that they are adequately supplied with reagents and other materials to ensure quick detection of cases.

“In the last seven days, we have had 176 confirmed cases as well. We have high case positivity rates in Esan-West and Esan-Central Local Government Areas (LGAs).”

Obi also added that there had been 82 recoveries over the past seven days, with the state recording 382 confirmed cases from Dec. 1, 2020, when government started tracking the second wave of the pandemic.