Covid-19: NCDC warns of 5th wave
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has reiterated the need for Nigerians to observe various Covid-19 protocols, as it recorded 1,332 new cases in one week.
Where are the new cases?
While urging states to increase testing, the NCDC noted that there’s been a continuous rise in infections in recent weeks. According to data from the NCDC, which showed a 53.42% reduction in testing, a resurgence in infections has been reported in Lagos state, Rivers state, Oyo state, Kano state, and the FCT, Abuja, among others. The NCDC data showed that the country recorded 478 new cases between July 16 and 18, with Lagos alone having 325 of the cases.
What’s responsible for the surge?
Experts have pointed to the weather and low vaccination rate. Dr. Stephen Fagbemi, who spoke on the subject, noted that there are two hypotheses: the weather is getting colder and the vaccination rate is low. “In a cold season like this, we may have more cases when people have not been vaccinated and our immunity is not up to the level of fighting the virus”, he said. More than 260,000 cases have been recorded in the country since the pandemic began. While 253,566 cases have been successfully discharged, about 3,147 lives have been lost to complications from the disease.
Suggesting largely mild to moderate symptoms in the recorded cases, the NCDC said hospitalization and fatalities have remained low, adding that the addition of laboratories was ongoing for increased testing. Records from the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA) showed that as of Friday, 26,127,761 people have been fully vaccinated in Nigeria, representing 23.4% of the total eligible population, while 11,819,911 have been partially vaccinated.
