The Federal Government on Thursday expressed concern over the number of confirmed cases of Lassa virus in Nigeria, saying it has hit 27 states.
While warning of the resurgence of other non-COVID-19 killer diseases like Lassa fever, especially in the dry season, the government said it had increased in the last one week to 11 cases.
The Minister of State for Health, Dr Olorunnimbe Mamora, said this during the press conference of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19.
According to him, 180 new confirmed cases and two deaths were recorded in the last 24 hours bringing to 64,516, the total number of confirmed cases so far recorded in Nigeria from 697,544 persons tested for COVID – 19.
He said, “A total of 60,737 cases have been treated and discharged while there are currently 2617 active cases currently receiving care at home or in a facility. We have sadly recorded 1,162 deaths with a case fatality rate of 1.8 per cent.
“We are cautiously impressed that the number of active cases is reducing as more persons are being discharged and the recovery rate is increasing.”
He said that while government strived to contain the spread of the disease, it would continue to keep eyes on other diseases that threaten human health.
Mamora said, “One of such diseases is Lassa fever which is a viral haemorrhagic disease characterized by one or more of the following symptoms: malaise, fever, headache, sore throat, cough, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, muscle pain, chest pain, hearing loss.
“So far this year, we have recorded 1131 confirmed cases in 27 states. However, the number of new confirmed cases of Lassa, has increased from three in the last week to 11 cases this week.”
He said that this year, Nigeria has recorded 233 deaths with a case fatality rate of 20.6 per cent, which is slightly lower than the CFR for the same period in 2019 (21.0 per cent).
