Lassa Fever Has Killed 132 People In Nigeria In 4 Months – Minister Mamora

The Federal Government has faulted the report of an increase in COVID-19 cases to 45 per cent in the last few weeks and insist that the report was completely false. Dr. Olorunnimbe Mamora, the Minister of State for Health, disclosed this during the Ministry of Health’s bi-weekly press briefing in Abuja. He explained that while 132 people have died of Lassa fever this year, there had also been 3,746 suspected and 691 confirmed cases in 23 states.

Minister Mamora, who had raised alarm that Lassa fever cases were increasing in the country, has put the fatality rate at 19.1 percent, further adding that there had been an increase in COVID-19 cases in Lagos State, while there was a significant reduction in the Federal Capital Territory. In his words, Kaduna, Kwara and Rivers States were witnessing low cases COVID-19. Minister Mamora said that the data acquired from the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, NPHCDA, indicated that approximately 60 per cent of those who received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine had returned to take the second dose.

Read Also: COVID-19: Cases In Nigeria Rise By 45 Percent In Nine Days

While he was speaking on COVID-19 response in the country, the minister said that as of April 10, 2022, 4,969,571 million persons had been tested for COVID-19, using either the Polymerase Chain Reaction or Rapid Diagnostic Test. He said there had been increase in Lagos State, decline in FCT, stability in three states of Kaduna, Kwara and Rivers, while others could not be ascertained. Mamora said: “As at April 11, 2022, reports from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, revealed that about 255,468 Nigerians had tested positive to the virus, while there are 2,719 active cases.”

Read Also: Casualties From Lassa Fever Rise As COVID-19 Cases Begin To Drop

Similarly, he said 249,607 persons had been treated and discharged, while 3,142 lost their lives.

“COVID-19 safety measures have also been revised with effect from April 2022 which include Mask wearing in enclosed environments is strongly recommended, personal discretion is advised in open places, among others. The Federal Government has also commenced planning on the inauguration of scaling up sequencing at the end of April, 2022. The NPHCDA has confirmed that Nationally, 60 per cent of People that have received their first dose have returned to take their second doses and that the NPHCDA is making conscious efforts to reduce wastage rates of vaccine minimally by ensuring that all forms of hesitancy are handled and people complete their doses. Some of the strategies employed to curb vaccine wastage are the Service Integration Strategy and also innovations which has yielded positive results so far. Despite all efforts, a lot still has to be done to reach the 50% eligible population vaccinated by second quarter of the year 2022.

The total number of fully vaccinated individuals from the eligible population with the first and second dose were 13,588,718 as of the 10th April, 2022 while for first and second doses were, respectively, 23,012,700 and 10,727,259 of the total eligible population targeted which altogether is 111,776,503.

“Point of entry records shows that there has been high compliance of PCR result on arrival at inbounds states especially in Lagos and Abuja and a negligible number of passengers that seek for PCR test on arrival. However, little resistance has been noticed in Kano and Enugu with passengers not wanting to pay for their PCR test. 91.3% has been recorded for travel permit compliance in Lagos while FCT is following closely with 71.17%. Also, there hasn’t been any positive cases recorded for COVID-19 PCR test at the oil platforms.”