No fewer than 10 more people died in the third week of the outbreak of Lassa Fever, bringing the death toll to 24.
According to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), 14 persons initially died from the outbreak as at the second week.
indicates that additional 10 people lost their lives in the third week of the disease outbreak.
In a report of the epidemiological report 13 – 19 January, the centre said: “In week 3, the number of new confirmed cases has increased from 64 cases in week 1, 2020 to 81. These were reported from six states – Ondo, Edo, Delta, Taraba, Plateau, and Bauchi.
“89 percent of all confirmed cases are from Edo (38 percent), Ondo (38 percent) and Ebonyi (11 percent) states. The predominant age-group affected is between 11 and 40 years (Range: >11 to 60 years, Median Age: 33 years). The male to female ratio for confirmed cases is 1:1”.
Ondo has the highest number of new confirmed cases at 43, followed by Edo at 33.
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Delta and Bauchi states had new confirmed cases of 2 each while Taraba and Plateau stood at one each.
The national average for case fatality stands at 10.4 percent and while target case fatality rate should be below 10 percent.
However, Ondo state seems to have overshot the national average and target case fatality rate at about 10.7 percent.
“The overall case fatality rate (CFR) for 2020 is 14.7 percent which is lower than the CFR for the same period during 2019, which was 23.4 percent. In total for 2020, nine states have recorded at least one confirmed case across 32 local government areas.
“The number of suspected cases has increased but is lower than the numbers reported in 2019. No Health Care Worker infection was identified in the reporting week 03,” the report said.
The Nation
