The figure of 1,166 COVID-19 patients who recovered and were discharged last week is the lowest in three months, PREMIUM TIMES‘ review of official data shows.
The last time Nigeria recorded such a low figure occurred between June 7 and 13 when 1,239 patients recovered and were discharged that week.
At that time, the country had recorded less than 16,000 confirmed infections and was managing 10,174 active cases of COVID-19 in isolation centres across all states and the FCT.
Last week’s low record might not be evidence of poor management but as a result of the drastic reductions in the tally of new COVID-19 infections in Nigeria in the last three weeks, which consequently affected the number of active cases.
Currently, there are 11,011 COVID-19 cases being treated either in isolation centres or in the patients’ homes.
When compared to the previous week’s record of 1,608, Nigeria’s weekly figure of recoveries, last week, dropped by 27 per cent.
Slight increase in new cases despite reduction in testing
Although the number of new infections have been on the low side in the past three weeks, Nigeria’s weekly infections increased slightly last week.
According to data sourced from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), the country recorded 1,272 new cases last week, a seven per cent increase from 1,178 new COVID-19 cases recorded last week.
It should be noted that none of the weekly tallies has exceeded 2,000 in the past three weeks.
Meanwhile, last week’s slight increase occurred despite a reduction in the testing rate.
A total of 16,035 samples were collected for testing last week as against the 18,473 tested the previous week. That represents a 13 per cent reduction.
In the past two months, Nigeria’s testing capacity has continually reduced despite having 70 molecular laboratories across the country.
Nevertheless, the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 and the NCDC have intensified efforts in preaching compliance with COVID-19 protocols particularly with the planned reopening of schools in some states.
Fluctuating death rate
PREMIUM TIMES analysis further showed that the death rate has been fluctuating in the past month.
Last week, 24 persons died of COVID-19 complications, according to the data provided by the NCDC.
A total of 43 persons died from the virus in the previous week while 14 deaths were recorded in the preceding week.
Nigeria so far
As of the time of reporting, Nigeria has 56,177 confirmed COVID-19 cases. Of this figure, 44,088 have been discharged and 1,078 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 18,581 cases, followed by FCT – 5,444, Oyo — 3,219 , Edo — 2,610, Rivers — 2,205, Kano — 1,728, Delta — 1,790, Kaduna — 2,262, Ogun — 1,732, Plateau — 3,097, Ondo — 1,583, Enugu — 1,223, Ebonyi — 1,034 , Kwara — 992, Katsina — 837, Borno — 741, Abia — 828, Gombe — 746, Osun — 804, Bauchi — 679, Imo — 546, Benue — 467, Nasarawa — 446, Bayelsa — 393, Jigawa — 322, Akwa Ibom — 283, Niger — 244, Adamawa — 230, Ekiti — 300, Sokoto — 159, Anambra — 226, Kebbi — 93, Zamfara — 78, Taraba — 95, Cross River— 83, Yobe — 72 and Kogi — 5.
Lagos State maintains its record of having the highest number of confirmed cases and deaths in the country.
The other five states with the highest number of confirmed cases are the FCT, Oyo, Edo, Plateau and Rivers states.
Of all 36 states and the FCT, only Borno, Jigawa, Niger, Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara, Cross River and Kogi did not record at least a fresh case last week.
Timeline last week
On Sunday last week, 100 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in the country.
As of 11:55 p.m. on September 6, a total of 55,055 cases had been reported, out of which 43,013 had recovered and 1,057 deaths recorded.
On Monday, 155 new cases of the pandemic were reported in the country.
On Tuesday, 296 new cases of COVID-19 were recorded.
On Wednesday, 176 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in the country.
On Thursday, 197 new cases were reported in Nigeria, hence bringing the tally of confirmed cases to 55,829.
On Friday, 188 new cases of the pandemic were recorded.
On Saturday, 160 new cases were reported in Nigeria, bringing the tally of confirmed cases to 56,177 as of 11:55 p.m. on September 12.
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