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  • Cholera cases in Cross River, Taraba, others, unacceptable- NCDC

    Cholera cases in Cross River, Taraba, others, unacceptable- NCDC

    The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), on Wednesday, expressed concern over cholera cases in states, with Cross River and Taraba leading.

    Ms Jessica Akinrogbe, the Senior Emergency Response Officer, NCDC, made the centre’s position known at the monthly meeting of WASH in Emergency Working Group in Abuja.

    She said a total of 1,359 confirmed cases were reported from January 2022 till date.

    She added that no fewer than 31 deaths were recorded in 15 states, including Cross River, Taraba, Borno, Bayelsa, Adamawa, Kebbi, Rivers, Ondo and Lagos.

    She said “out of these states, Cross River and Taraba had the highest cases of 558 and 282 respectively.’’

    Akinrogbe said that the centre had deployed rapid response teams to the states to curtail the spread, adding that with the approaching rainy season, efforts must be geared toward preventing recurrence.

    She called on the states to step up their cholera preparedness and response plan and build capacities to manage emergencies.

    Mr Olu-Daniels Ibiyemi, the Deputy Director, WASH Response and Collaboration, Federal Ministry of Water Resources, said the Federal Government had started intervention activities in Kano and Katsina states.

    He said the two states were also part of the cholera hotspot sites, saying the ministry would continue to support states through advocacy and coordination and urged the states to take responsibility on preparedness and response plan.

    Ibiyemi said “it is not the duty of the Federal Government to provide water and sanitation facilities to states, but to give support through advocacy.’’

    The deputy director added that efforts were on to follow up states to finalise their cholera preparedness and response plan, saying this would help in mitigation efforts.

    The UNICEF Chief of WASH, Ms Jane Bevan, said states required clear coordination and response plans to manage emergency situations, “so that
    when emergencies happen, they can quickly see who needed to be contacted, what responses to be given in terms of clean water.

    “This also include actions to be taken to sensitise people on safe water use and hygiene behaviours to minimise spread of the outbreak’’.

    Bevan added that it was impressive to see that the Federal Government had taken responsibility of coordination with the establishment of WASH in emergency working group.

    Mr Rangaiya Kanaganathan, the Head of Department, WASH, Action Against Hunger, said the organisation had strengthened coordination with the National Cholera Technical Working Group.

    He said such coordination ensured the training of volunteers, health workers on cholera response in focal states of Borno, Yobe, Bauchi, Jigawa, Kano and Sokoto states.

    He added that “18 cholera kits were distributed to hotspot local government areas, while 5,813 households received water treatment chemicals.

    “A total of 107 persons (60 males and 47 females) were trained on hygiene and sanitation promotion, water quality monitoring, water schemes operation and maintenance, while 40 water points were chlorinated.’’

  • Lassa Fever: Death toll on the increase in Nigeria – NCDC

    Lassa Fever: Death toll on the increase in Nigeria – NCDC

    The latest report by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), has shown that Lassa fever has killed 59 Nigerians since the beginning of the year (six weeks) in thirteen states of the country as of February 13, 2022.

    Furthermore, in one week (between February 7 to 13, 2022) eleven (11) people have been killed by the disease in five states – Ondo (five), Edo (two), Taraba (two) Bauchi (one) and Kogi (1).

    Also, nineteen (19) states have recorded at least one confirmed case of the diseases, with Ondo State having the highest number of confirmed cases and deaths at 115 and 20 respectively.

    Of all confirmed cases, 73 per cent are from Ondo (32 per cent), Edo (23 per cent) and Bauchi (18 per cent) States.

    According to the NCDC, the states with the disease burden are: Ondo, Edo, Bauchi, Benue, Taraba, Oyo, Ebonyi, Enugu, Kogi, Nasarawa, Plateau, Delta, Kaduna, Adamawa, Niger, Anambra, Katsina, FCT and Cross River.

    According to a statement by the NCDC, “In week six, the number of new confirmed cases increased from 58 in week five, 2022 to 77 cases. These were reported from Ondo, Edo, Bauchi, Ebonyi, Taraba, Enugu, Benue, Kogi, Nasarawa, and Niger States and the FCT.

    Read Also

    Federal Ministry of Environment has strengthened activities on environmental health and sanitation response to Lassa fever outbreak in the country after 11 deaths in 2022.

    The ministry revealed that 102 deaths were recorded from 510 cases last year

    Minister of state for the environment, Chief Sharon Ikeazor, at a function over the weekend, said her ministry had already embarked on environmental health and sanitation response campaign in 11 states of the federation to ensure improvement in environmental sanitation of premises, abatement of nuisance, rodent control, food hygiene and safety.

    In a statement issued by the ministry’s director of press, Saghir el Mohammed, she said Nigeria is currently experiencing increasing number of reported Lassa fever cases across the country.

    The most recent situation report from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) of 16th January, 2022, indicated 96 confirmed cases and 11 deaths from 3rd to 16th January, 2022, in 27 local government areas across 11 states that include Bauchi, Edo, Ondo, Benue, Taraba, Kaduna, Plateau, Kogi, Cross River, Ebonyi and Oyo.

  • No ban on religious activities in custodial centres – official

    No ban on religious activities in custodial centres – official

    The Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) has said it had not banned religious activities of inmates in custodial centres across the country, as purportedly stated by those it described as ‘mischief makers’.

    The Service Public Relations Officer (SPRO) Mr Francis Enobore disclosed this in a statement issued to newsmen on Sunday in Abuja.

    Enobore said that it had come to the notice of management of the service, the spread of the unfounded statement purportedly, issued by the Controller General, Haliru Nababa.

    “According to him, the statement is false, misleading, as it is only a figment of the author’s imagination.

    “The service in fact, encourages all forms of genuine visits to inmates by relations and well-meaning individuals/group. This is in order to promote psycho-social support, which is pivotal to reformation and rehabilitation of inmates.

    “To put the records straight, visits to custodial centres was temporarily suspended in April, 2021, in compliance with National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) COVID-19 protocol in order to prevent the dreaded pandemic from spreading to the custodial centres.

    “Since the pandemic has not abated but continue to mutate, with the current virulent Omicron variant still uncaged, the Presidential Taskforce on COVID-19, in its wisdom, has advised the sustenance of preventive protocols.

    “This includes, crowd control and strict monitoring of migration amongst others. Hence, the management of the NCoS is yet to relax the restriction on visits to custodial centres, “he said.

    Enobore noted that custodial centres in Nigeria, with its overwhelming population phenomenon, were able to maintain zero infection status among the inmates.

    “This is made possible through strict adherence to various preventive measures.

    “Similarly, it would be recalled that disease outbreaks like Ebola, Cerebral Spinal Meningitis (CSM), Lassa Fever just to mention a few, have been successfully prevented from entering custodial centres in Nigeria.

    “And no inmate has been lost to any of these diseases. This was possible through proactive and professional management of health issues amongst inmates,” he said.

    According to him, Nababa commended the cooperation of members of the public in complying with the preventive measures.

    He said the custodial centre boss also assured that the health and complete well-being of inmates in custody would continue to enjoy prime attention in his administration.

    He then prayed for an end to the pandemic, assuring that all restrictions would be lifted as soon as advice to this effect was received from the appropriate authorities.

  • FACT CHECK: No reported #COVID19 Vaccine mortality in Nigeria since vaccination rollout

    FACT CHECK: No reported #COVID19 Vaccine mortality in Nigeria since vaccination rollout

    By Oghenekevwe Uchechukwu

    As part of an ongoing vaccination campaign, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has announced that there has been no reported case of death from the COVID-19 vaccine in Nigeria since the country rolled out its vaccination programme.

    In a tweet via its verified twitter handle @NCDCgov on Wednesday 16th February 2022, the NCDC said Nigerian academics and independent researchers have continued to study the safety of the vaccine, adding that they are safe and effective.

    “There has been no COVID-19 vaccine related mortality and hospitalization in Nigeria since the commencement of vaccination,” the tweet stated.

    HOW TRUE IS THIS CLAIM?

    The first case of the coronavirus in Nigeria was recorded on 27th February 2020 but vaccination did not commence until 6th March 2021, with priority given to frontline health workers at a time when the country had recorded close to 165, 000 confirmed cases of infection and 2000 deaths.

    Nigeria has now administered at least 20,617,588 doses of COVID vaccines and although about 10, 113 cases of mild Adverse Events Following Immunization (AEFI) and 86 cases of moderate to severe incidents have been reported, there has been no record of any adverse reaction to the COVID-19 vaccine in the country.

    Most of the COVID-19 jabs require two doses and at the current average of about 192,919 doses administered each day, Nigeria could vaccinate up to 10 per cent of its estimated 214 million population with at least one shot of the vaccine by September.

    VERDICT

    TRUE. The number of infection of the corona virus in Nigeria has risen to 254, 182 with 3, 141 total deaths, but no single case of vaccine mortality has been officially recorded.

  • Lassa fever: NCDC registers 40 deaths, four health workers infected in January

    Lassa fever: NCDC registers 40 deaths, four health workers infected in January

    The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), registered 40 Lassa fever-related deaths in January, adding that four health workers were also infected following the latest outbreak of Lassa fever in the country.

    The NCDC, via its verified website, made this known on Sunday morning, saying that it is currently distributing medical response commodities to states and treatment centres.

    The News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) reports that Lassa fever is a viral haemorrhagic fever transmitted by rats. It has been known since the 1950s, but the virus was not identified until 1969, when two missionary nurses died from it in the town of Lassa in Nigeria.

    Found predominantly in West Africa, it has the potential to cause tens of thousands of deaths. Even after recovery, the virus remains in body fluids, including semen.

    Neighboring countries are also at risk, as the animal vector for Lassa virus, the “multimammate rat” (Mastomys natalensis) is distributed throughout the region.

    According to the agency, for January, the 40 deaths and 981 cases reported in January 2022 were across 43 local government areas in 14 states.

    The public health agency said “Cumulatively from Week 1 to Week 4, 2022, 49 deaths have been reported with a case fatality rate of 19.0 per cent.

    “In total, for 2022, 14 states have recorded at least one confirmed case across 43 local government areas. Of all confirmed cases, 82% are from the following states as follows – Ondo (30%), Edo (27%) and Bauchi (25%).

    “The predominant age-group affected is 21-30 years.

    “The number of suspected cases has increased compared to that reported for the same period in 2021”

    The centre also noted that, “four health workers have been infected so far, 233 cases undergoing treatment, 617 cases undergoing contact tracing while 968 have been listed for follow up.”

    The agency added that the states with the suspected number of cases were; Edo, Ondo, Bauchi, Benue, Oyo, Taraba, Ebonyi, Kogi, Kaduna, Katsina, Ebonyi, Plateau, Cross River, Borno, Anambra, Bayelsa, Jigawa, Kebbi, Ogun, Kwara, Lagos, Delta, Gombe, FCT, Nasarawa, Rivers and Enugu.

    The NCDC said that Lassa fever is caused by a single stranded RNA virus and is a disseminated systemic primary viral infection.

    “The main feature of fatal illness is impaired or delayed cellular immunity leading to fulminant viraemia.

    “This is why health workers should maintain a high index of suspicion for Lassa fever, be vigilant and look out for symptoms of Lassa fever. Not all fevers are malaria,” it added.

    The agency also reported its activation of emergency response over the virus across the country, saying activation became necessary given the increase in the number of confirmed cases across the nation.

    Since, the last outbreak of the virus in 2016, the health agency noted that there had been an increase in the number of cases in the country.

    Meanwhile in 2019, the agency stated that 796 cases were reported, while in 2020, a total of 1,165 cases were confirmed at the peak of the pandemic.

    NAN reports that the peak incident is thought to be in the dry season (January to March), but data collected in Sierra Leone shows peaks in the overlap with the wet season (May to November).

    Many infections are sub clinical; a high index of suspicion, given the difficulties of clinical diagnosis, is needed when people present with a fever of unknown origin, with symptoms appearing up to 21 days after leaving the endemic area.

    The virus is excreted in semen for three months after infection and experts do not know how frequently it may be transmitted through sexual intercourse.

    Attempts are being made to produce a vaccine using the yellow fever virus as a vehicle.

    The possibility that Lassa virus could be used as a biological weapon has raised the profile of the need for greater understanding of Lassa fever and for more effective control and treatment programmes.

  • COVID-19: NCDC reports 145 new cases

    COVID-19: NCDC reports 145 new cases

    The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), registered 145 additional lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 in nine states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on Saturday.

    The NCDC, via its verified website on Sunday morning, said that the additional infections in the country moved up to 253,685 on Saturday, indicating on Saturday alone, there was an increase from the 35 cases recorded the previous day.

    It noted that three deaths were reported in the country on Saturday, as the country’s total death toll is now 3,139.

    The agency added that Imo state-led on the list with 65 infections, while Lagos, Ondo and Kano reported 36, 20 and 6 cases respectively. Osun and Rivers registered six cases each while other records are the FCT (3), Delta, Kaduna, and Ogun, one each.

    According to it, a total of 230,126 Nigerian residents have recovered from COVID-19.

    The agency added that the Omicron variant is the dominant variant in the country and ‘BA.2,’ the sub-variant of the strain, is more prevalent in India now.

    “The B.1.1.529 lineage of COVID-19 was named Omicron. However, it was discovered later that this lineage has certain sub-variations. The three most common types are: “B.1.1.529.1 (BA.1– currently predominant), B.1.1.529.2 (BA.2 – raised concerns) and (B.1.1.529.3 (BA.3).

    “It could be more infectious, but there has been no evidence that flags it as more harmful,” it added.

    Meanwhile, The World Health Organization (WHO), on February 1, pointed that the BA.2 sub-variant has been detected in 57 countries, predominantly in Asia and Europe.

  • COVID-19: NCDC registers 22 additional infections

    COVID-19: NCDC registers 22 additional infections

    The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on Sunday registered 22 additional lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 in four states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

    The NCDC, via its verified website on Monday morning, said that the additional figure coronavirus infections in the country had moved up to 253,023 as of Sunday.

    Newsmen reports that there was a significant decrease in the number of infections, with the Sunday figure, compared to 89 reported on Saturday.

    The centre said that no patients died of coronavirus-related complications on Sunday, while 317 patients were successfully treated and discharged on Sunday.

    It added that the nationwide death toll from the virus remained 3,135 and in total, 229,019 people had been discharged from hospitals after their symptoms improved.

    According to NCDC, Lagos State led the chart with nine new infections, followed by FCT with six cases, Delta with four cases, Rivers with two and Kano State with one case.

    It noted that the Sunday report included zero cases reported from Bauchi, Bayelsa, Ekiti, Kaduna, Ogun, Ondo, Oyo, Plateau, and Sokoto while the four cases reported in Delta were backlogs from Jan. 28, (3) and Jan. 29, (1).

    The agency said with the additional figures, the caseload in the country reached 253,020 and the death toll remained 3,135 since the outbreak of the pandemic.

    It noted that the one death reported on Saturday was a backlog from Imo which occurred on Jan. 24.

    According to NCDC’s latest COVID-19 situation report spanning from Jan. 17 to Jan. 23, the number of new infections decreased to 1,258 from 2,617 reported in the second week of the year.

  • COVID-19: NCDC announces 89 new infections

    COVID-19: NCDC announces 89 new infections

    The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has reported 89 additional cases of COVID-19 in eight states and the Federal Capital Territory on Saturday.

    The NCDC, via its verified website on Sunday morning, said with the additional figures, the caseload in the country had reached 253,020, and the death toll remained 3,135 since the outbreak of the pandemic.

    It noted that one death reported on Saturday was backlog from Imo State on Jan. 24, 2022, adding that the number of COVID-19 infections and deaths have continued to decline in the country.

    On Saturday the country registered 89 new COVID-19 cases as the infections continued to decline below the 100 mark for the fourth consecutive day since the country was hit by the Omicron variant of coronavirus.

    Saturday’s case numbers were an increase from the 72 cases recorded on Friday.

    The NCDC said of the new cases, 26 infections were detected from Lagos, the nation’s epicentre, 19 cases in Ondo and 16 cases in Imo State.

    While Edo, Kaduna and Rivers reported seven cases each, FCT and Ogun reported three cases each and Kano reported one case.

    It added that zero cases were reported from Abia, Ekiti, Bauchi, Osun, Oyo, Plateau and Sokoto.

    According to NCDC, the country has now successfully treated and discharged 228,702 COVID-19 patients since the beginning of the pandemic, as the country’s recoveries increased by 70 on Saturday.

    The NCDC stated that there were 21,183 active cases across the country as at Saturday.

  • COVID-19: Nigeria records 6 deaths, 163 infections

    COVID-19: Nigeria records 6 deaths, 163 infections

    Nigeria on Tuesday recorded six more fatalities from the COVID-19 pandemic with 163 new cases confirmed across 12 States and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

    This is contained in an update by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on Wednesday morning.

    The centre said Lagos accounted for 59 cases, while the FCT, Delta, Kaduna, Gombe, and Osun reported 33, 16, 13, 12, and 12 cases respectively.

    Others are Ogun-four, Ekiti-three, Oyo-three, Rivers-three, Borno-two, Imo-two and Nasarawa-one.

    With the new confirmed cases, Nigeria’s infection toll increased to 251,341.

    The centre also reported 224,939 recoveries.

    The agency stated that Tuesday’s recoveries include 199 discharged cases reported in the FCT on Tuesday, including 198 community discharges.

    The NCDC on Monday recorded seven deaths and 249 new COVID-19 cases.

  • COVID-19: Nigeria records 428 new infections, 8 deaths

    COVID-19: Nigeria records 428 new infections, 8 deaths

    Nigeria recorded 428 new COVID-19 infections with eight deaths on Tuesday in 13 States and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

    The Nigeria Centre For Disease Control (NCDC) made this known on Wednesday.

    The centre said Nigeria now has 244,548 confirmed cases in the 36 states and the FCT.

    The NCDC said Rivers led with 188 cases followed by Ondo with (54), the FCT (42), Imo (25), Nasarawa (24), Oyo (23), Edo (18), Akwa Ibom (16), Ogun (14), Osun (10), Kano (7), Ekiti (3), Borno and Plateau (2) each.

    It added that Bauchi and Sokoto states reported that they recorded no cases on Tuesday.

    The NCDC also disclosed that 634 persons were discharged on Tuesday.

    It added that 216,814 Nigerians have been successfully treated and discharged nationwide while over 24,681 people were still down with the virus.

    It said that with the eight confirmed deaths from the COVID-19 complications on Tuesday, the country’s death toll rose to 3,053.

    Meanwhile, the Nigerian Public Health agency noted that 3,863,081 people have been tested for the virus.

    according to reports the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency said as at Dec. 8, 2021, 3.5 million eligible Nigerians have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

    The agency also said that 6.6 million Nigerians had taken the first dose while 3.5 million had been fully vaccinated against the virus.

    The Federal Government also assured Nigerians of adequate doses of vaccines in-store to cover a large percentage of the population, adding that the country was awaiting about 57 million doses of the vaccine.