Amidst the surge in Coronavirus infections, the latest situation report released by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control has shown that 92 people have died from Lassa Fever across the country in 2021.
The report further added that as of the reporting Week 50, a total of 454 people have been infected by the disease across 66 local government areas in 16 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The centre noted that three states accounted for 83 per cent of the confirmed cases.
Edo state in the South-south topped the infection toll with 197 cases, followed by Ondo in the South-west and Taraba in the North-east with 159 and 21 cases respectively.
Further breakdown of the cases revealed that Ebonyi and Bauchi states also recorded 18 cases each.
Benue and Plateau states in the North-central followed with eight cases each; Kaduna, seven; Enugu, five, while Nasarawa and Kogi states reported three cases each.
While the FCT recorded only two cases, Cross River, Imo, Anambra, Delta and Abia States reported a single case each.
In comparison with 2020, the NCDC noted that the number of fatalities reported from week 1 to 50, 2021, represent a case fatality rate (CFR) of 20.3 per cent which is lower than the CFR for the same period in 2020 (20.7 per cent).
It added that the number of suspected cases also decreased compared to that reported for the same period in 2020.
Of the 10 cases confirmed in the reporting Week 50, spanning December 13 to 19, two new health workers in undisclosed states contracted the disease.
The number of new confirmed cases, which is the same as cases reported in Week 49, 2021, were reported from Ondo, Bauchi, Edo and Ebonyi states.
(Premium Times)
