Ebonyi State has recorded its first COVID-19 fatality.

The state governor, David Umahi, announced this on Friday morning via a radio broadcast.

He said that Ebonyi has joined the states where death from COVID-19 complications has been recorded despite efforts by the state government to contain the spread.

Channels Television reports that Governor Umahi noted that the late patient was a judiciary officer and, therefore, directed that all the courts in the state be shutdown.

According to him, the directive is to take effect from Friday and will last a period of 10 days.

The governor also advised all the judiciary officials and their family members to undergo COVID-19 tests within the period.

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The first death in Ebonyi was among the six new fatalities announced by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on Thursday night.

In its latest update on the outbreak, the health agency announced a record 745, the highest figure of cases to be reported in a single day.

The new cases were recorded in 20 states and the Federal Capital Territory, with Lagos having 280 cases followed by Oyo and Ebonyi with 103 and 72 infections respectively.

Others include: FCT – 60, Imo – 46, Edo – 34, Delta – 33, Rivers – 25, Kaduna – 23, Ondo – 16, Katsina – 12, Kano – 10, Bauchi – eight, Borno – seven, Kwara – five, Gombe – four, Sokoto and Enugu – two, and one each in Yobe, Osun, and Nasarawa.

This brings the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Nigeria to 18,480 out of which 6,307 patients have been discharged and 475 deaths recorded.

The states with the highest cases in the six zones are Lagos in the South West with 7,896, the FCT in the North Central with 1,451 cases, and Kano in the North West with 1,170 cases.

Edo has displaced Rivers in the South-South with 729 cases, and Borno tops the table in the North East with 464 cases, while Ebonyi leads in the South East with 234 cases.