Not fewer than 103 people have lost their lives since the latest outbreak of Lassa fever in the country, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) said on Wednesday.
According to a weekly situation report released by the health agency, there has been a spike in the number of suspected and confirmed cases as well as in deaths from the disease.
The report said, as of February 16, the number of newly confirmed cases increased from 109 cases in week six, to 115.
These were reported from 16 states: Ondo, Edo, Ebonyi, Kano, Kogi, Kaduna, Taraba, Plateau, Bauchi, Enugu, Abia, Benue, Borno, Gombe, Sokoto and Katsina.
Cumulatively from week one to week seven, 103 deaths have been reported with a case fatality rate (CFR) of 17.6 per cent. This is lower than the CFR for the same period in 2019 pegged at 21.1 per cent.
Also in the reporting week, two new healthcare workers were affected in Bauchi and Katsina states, bringing the number of affected health workers from January to date to 20.
So far for 2020, 26 states have recorded at least one confirmed case across 101 local government areas.
Even as the agency was releasing the report on Wednesday, more cases were recorded across the country, with the latest confirmed case in Lagos State.
NCDC in its clarification of the discrepancies in the new data released on Wednesday compared to death figures (70) released last week, said the discrepancies were as a result of missed deaths reported from the states.
“The deaths were not reported from week seven alone. We recently did some data validation/harmonisation with the states and found some deaths were reported retrospectively,” the NCDC said.
Of all confirmed cases, 73 per cent are from Edo, 35 per cent; Ondo, 32 per cent and Ebonyi had 6 per cent, it added.
With agency report
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