Nigeria’s coronavirus case count is now over 44,000, with the death toll just shy of 900, authorities said on Tuesday.

According to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), 288 more infections and eight fatalities were recorded in the country over the past 24 hours.

“Till date, 44,129 cases have been confirmed, 20,663 cases have been discharged and 896 deaths have been recorded in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT),” the NCDC said in its latest update.

With more than 15,300 infections, commercial capital Lagos remains the area hit hardest in Nigeria, the data showed.

It is followed by the FCT, which includes the capital Abuja, where almost 4,000 cases have been confirmed to date, and the southwestern Oyo state with over 2,770 cases.

At least 192 COVID-19 patients have died in Lagos, 42 in FCT, and 28 in Oyo, according to the NCDC figures.

Nigeria is among the three worst-hit countries in Africa, where the total case count is now over 968,000, including more than 20,600 fatalities.

Across the world, COVID-19 has claimed nearly 694,000 lives in at least 188 countries and regions since last December.

More than 18.28 million cases have been reported worldwide, with the highest number of infections in the US, Brazil, India, and Russia, according to figures compiled by the US’ Johns Hopkins University.

The data shows more than half of all patients in the world – over 10.91 million – have recovered so far.

Despite recent progress on several vaccines, the head of the World Health Organization has said there may never be a “silver bullet” for COVID-19.

“A number of vaccines are now in phase three clinical trials and we all hope to have a number of effective vaccines that can help prevent people from infection,” Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Monday.

“However, there's no silver bullet at the moment – and there might never be.”