Weekly Review: Nigeria’s new COVID-19 infections reduce after four consecutive weeks of increase

After four weeks of increase, Nigeria’s new weekly COVID-19 infections have reduced, PREMIUM TIMES’ review of official data shows.

This paper had reported how new cases increased by 32 per cent in the 44th week of the pandemic, by two per cent in the 45th week, by 22 per cent in the 46th week, and by 2.1 per cent in the 47th week, which is the previous week.

Last week (November 22-28), the country recorded 1,102 fresh cases, a 10 per cent reduction when compared to the previous week’s record of 1,232 cases.

The decrease in new cases last week might be as a result of the significant drop in the number of tests carried out.

A total of 17,021 samples were collected for testing last week as against the 33,407 tested the previous week. This represents nearly 50 per cent reduction in the tests carried out.

Since the pandemic broke out in February, a total of 756,237 samples have been collected for testing.

More deaths, recoveries

PREMIUM TIMES’s analysis also showed that there was an increase in the number of COVID-19 patients discharged and deaths recorded last week.

A total of 935 persons recovered and were discharged last week, which represents an 8.5 per cent increase when compared to the previous week’s record of 855.

Also, Nigeria recorded five deaths last week. Recall that three persons died of COVID-19 complications in the previous week.

Nigeria so far

As of the time of reporting, Nigeria has 67,330 confirmed COVID-19 cases. Of this figure, 62,819 have been discharged and 1,171 deaths have been recorded in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

A breakdown of the confirmed cases shows that Lagos State has so far reported 23,190 cases, followed by FCT – 6,767, Plateau — 3,857, Oyo — 3,721, Kaduna — 3,064, Rivers — 2,997, Edo — 2,696, Ogun — 2,222, Delta — 1,824, Kano — 1,794, Ondo — 1,728, Enugu — 1,332, Kwara — 1,096, Ebonyi — 1,055, Katsina — 1,025, Osun — 945, Gombe — 938, Abia — 926, Bauchi — 770, Borno — 745, Imo — 662, Benue — 496, Nasarawa — 491, Bayelsa — 445, Ekiti — 365, Jigawa — 331, Akwa Ibom — 339, Anambra — 285, Niger — 298, Adamawa — 261, Sokoto — 165, Taraba — 159, Kebbi — 93, Zamfara — 79, Cross River— 90, Yobe — 94 and Kogi — 5.

Lagos State remains the epicentre for the disease with the highest number of confirmed cases and deaths in the country.

The other five states with the highest number of confirmed cases are FCT, Plateau, Oyo, Rivers and Kaduna states.

It should be noted that only Kogi and Sokoto states have no active COVID-19 cases currently.

Timeline last week

On Sunday, 155 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in the country.

As of 11:55 p.m. on November 22, a total of 66,383 cases had been reported, out of which 62,076 had recovered and 1,167 deaths recorded.

On Monday, 56 new cases of the pandemic were reported in the country.

On Tuesday, 168 new cases were reported.

On Wednesday, 198 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in the country.

On Thursday, 169 new cases were reported in Nigeria, hence bringing the tally of confirmed cases to 66, 974.

On Friday, 246 new cases of the pandemic were recorded.

On Saturday, 110 new cases were reported in Nigeria, bringing the tally of confirmed cases to 67,330 as of 11:55 p.m. on November 28.