Weekly Review: After two weeks of reduction, Nigeria’s new COVID-19 cases increase

After two weeks of reduction, the weekly figure of new coronavirus infections in Nigeria has increased again, a PREMIUM TIMES’s review of official data shows.

Last week marked the 29th week of the pandemic in Nigeria.

Before the earlier two weeks reduction, Nigeria had experienced six weeks of consistent increase in new COVID-19 cases.

However, while a total of 3,823 new infections were recorded in the previous week, Nigeria recorded 4,107 new cases in the past week (July 12 – July 18), a 6 per cent increase.

The major reason for the increase in the number of confirmed cases, according to NCDC, is the high level of community transmission.

Owing to that, the public health agency has been hammering on compliance with infection prevention and control (IPC) measures as it remains the most effective intervention to control the COVID-19 outbreak.

Nigerians have been repeatedly told to ensure the use of face masks and maintain social distancing, although both have been largely breached by residents.

More recoveries, fewer deaths

Just as the number of new infections increased last week, the number of people who recovered from the virus and were discharged also increased.

A total of 1,834 patients recovered and were discharged last week, a 10 per cent increase from 1,641 who were discharged in the previous week.

Also, 54 new deaths were reported between last Sunday and Saturday, which amounts to a 40 per cent reduction when compared to the 90 who died from the virus in the previous week.

Nigeria so far

As of the time of reporting, Nigeria has reported 36,107 cases of COVID-19. These include 14,938 people who have recovered and have been discharged from treatment centres and 778 deaths.

A breakdown of the 31,987 confirmed cases shows that Lagos State has so far reported 13,341 cases, followed by FCT – 2,957, Oyo – 2, 106, Edo – 1, 885, Delta – 1, 423, Rivers – 1,516, Kano – 1,395, Ogun – 1,168, Kaduna – 1,118, Ondo – 912, Katsina – 697, Borno – 598, Gombe – 544, Bauchi – 529, Plateau – 620, Ebonyi – 655, Enugu – 675, Abia – 479, Imo – 452, Jigawa – 322, Kwara – 311, Bayelsa – 299, Nasarawa – 272, Osun – 332, Sokoto – 153, Niger – 151, Akwa Ibom – 162, Benue – 194, Adamawa – 115, Anambra – 118, Kebbi – 88, Zamfara – 77, Yobe – 64, Ekiti – 84, Taraba- 30, Kogi – 5, and Cross River – 13.

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, Oyo, Edo, Delta and Rivers State.

Last week, all the 36 states except Kogi and Sokoto recorded at least a new case of the virus.

Increased testing

The number of COVID-19 tests conducted in the country has also consistently increased in the last two months.

The country has so far collected 209,446 samples since the beginning of the outbreak in Nigeria in February.

Data from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) showed that 31181 people were tested last week, a 3 per cent increase from the 30,077 tested the previous week.

To further enhance the timely delivery of test results, the NCDC said it is currently building a platform where those tested can access their results on time.

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The Director-General of the public health agency, Chikwe Ihekweazu, said this during one of the daily briefings of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19.

Timeline last week

On Sunday, 571 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in the country.

On Monday, 595 new cases of the pandemic were reported in the country. This brought the tally of confirmed cases to 33,153 as of 11:55 p.m. on July 13.

On Tuesday, 463 new cases of COVID-19 were recorded.

A total of 643 new cases of the pandemic were reported on Wednesday which brought the number of confirmed cases to 34,259.

The NCDC figures, as of 11:55 p.m. on July 15 also showed that 13,999 patients had been discharged while 760 had died.

On Thursday, 595 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in the country.

On Friday, 600 new cases were reported in Nigeria, hence bringing the tally of confirmed cases to 35,454 as of 11:55 p.m. on July 17.

On Saturday, 653 new cases of the pandemic were recorded.

Therefore, a total of 36,107 cases had been reported, out of which 14,938 had recovered and 778 had died.