COVID-19 Weekly Review: Nigeria recorded two deaths last week, lowest in seven months

Last week, Nigeria recorded two COVID-19 deaths – the lowest weekly figure since March, PREMIUM TIMES’ review of official data shows.

According to the data provided by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), the country’s public health agency, two deaths were reported on Saturday, the 41st week of the pandemic in Nigeria.

The last time the country recorded such a low figure was during the early stages of the virus in Nigeria, between March 23 and March 29, when only a casualty had been recorded.

Seven persons died of COVID-19 complications in the previous week (September 27 to October 3) while a total of 11 persons died from the virus in the preceding week.

Fewer cases, recoveries

Nigeria’s new weekly COVID-19 infections and recoveries also reduced significantly last week when compared to the previous week.

Last week, between Sunday and Saturday, 816 new cases were reported in the country compared to the 2,142 recorded the previous week.

The reduction in the number of new infections could, however, be attributed to reduced testing.

A total of 18,597 samples were collected for testing last week as against the 30,220 tested the previous week.

A total 551,362 samples have been collected for testing in Nigeria since the pandemic broke out in February.

PREMIUM TIMES analysis further showed that fewer persons recovered and were discharged last week.

According to NCDC, 993 recovered and were discharged last week compared to the previous week’s record of 2,287.

Nigeria so far

As of the time of reporting, Nigeria has 60,103 confirmed COVID-19 cases. Of this figure, 51,711 have been discharged and 1, 115 deaths have been recorded in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

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A breakdown of the confirmed cases shows that Lagos State has so far reported 19,909 cases, followed by FCT – 5, 805, Plateau — 3, 536, Oyo — 3,299, Edo — 2,635, Kaduna — 2,487, Rivers — 2,661, Ogun — 1, 936, Delta — 1,803, Kano — 1,740, Ondo — 1,638, Enugu — 1,289, Ebonyi — 1042 , Kwara — 1,050, Abia — 898, Gombe — 883, Katsina — 894, Osun — 895, Borno — 745, Bauchi — 710, Imo — 583, Benue — 482, Nasarawa — 469, Bayelsa — 401, Jigawa — 325, Ekiti — 323, Akwa Ibom — 295, Niger — 261, Anambra — 250, Adamawa — 248, Sokoto — 162, Taraba — 106, Kebbi — 93, Zamfara — 79, Cross River— 87, Yobe — 79 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, Oyo, Plateau, Edo and Rivers states.

Many states including Enugu, Ebonyi, Abia, Bayelsa, Jigawa, Adamawa, Sokoto, Kebbi, Cross River, Zamfara and Kogi did not record a fresh case last week.

Timeline last week

Last Sunday, 58 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in the country.

As of 11:55 p.m. on October 4, a total of 59, 345 cases had been reported, out of which 50, 768 had recovered and 1113 deaths recorded.

On Monday, 120 new cases of the virus were reported in the country.

On Tuesday, 118 new cases of COVID-19 were recorded.

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

On Thursday, 103 new cases were reported in Nigeria, hence bringing the tally of confirmed cases to 59,841.

On Friday, 151 new cases of the pandemic were recorded.

On Saturday, 111 new cases were reported in Nigeria, hence bringing the tally of confirmed cases to 60,103 as of 11:55 p.m. on October 10.