The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) announced in its daily update late on Monday that the new cases were recorded in 21 states, raising the total number of cases in the country to 20,919.

Lagos recorded the highest number of cases with 288, followed by Oyo with 76, Rivers with 56, Delta with 31, Ebonyi with 30, Gombe with 28, and Ondo, Kaduna, and Kwara with 20 each.

17 new cases were recorded in Ogun, 16 in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, 13 in Edo, 10 in Abia, and nine each in Nasarawa and Imo.

Other states that recorded new cases on Monday are Bayelsa (8), Borno (8), Katsina (8), Sokoto (3), Bauchi (3), and Plateau (2).

230 people who recovered from the highly infectious disease were also released across the country on Monday according to the NCDC, raising the total number of recoveries to 7,109.

However, seven new fatalities were also recorded, with the death toll now 525 people.

Of all 35 states and the FCT that have recorded cases, Benue, Taraba, and Kogi are the only three states yet to record fatalities.

Cross River is the only state in the country yet to officially record an infection, but the Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Chikwe Ihekweazu, said on Monday that no state can claim to be free of the disease.

Iheakweazu said efforts to defeat the coronavirus should not be relaxed until a vaccine has been found for the highly infectious disease.

"We can only start thinking and talking about any state or any community being disease-free when we have an effective tool to fight that disease.

"That's when we have a vaccine," he said.

Other members of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 also warned during Monday's media briefing that Nigerians are not taking the danger of the disease seriously enough, and begged for cooperation from members of the public and state governments.