Last week, 10,534 COVID-19 patients were discharged but the country still has 23,933 patients receiving treatments.

Although Nigeria conducted fewer COVID-19 tests last week than the previous week, the country still recorded more new cases and deaths, official data shows.

According to a PREMIUM TIMES’ review of data provided by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), 11, 659 persons tested positive for the virus last week (January 17- 23) , which is 18 per cent higher than the previous week’s record of 9,880.

Further analysis showed that the increase occurred despite the fact that the public health agency tested 87,092 people in the past week, lower than the 128,578 tests carried out in the preceding week.

Since the pandemic broke out in February last year, the country has carried out 1,241,230 tests.

Also, although over 10,000 COVID-19 patients recovered and were discharged from isolation centres across Nigeria last week, the number of those on admission increased.

In the previous week (January 10-16), this newspaper reported that 22,156 COVID-19 patients were being treated at the isolation centres after 5,950 patients had recovered and were discharged.

However, last week (January 17- 23), 10,534 patients were discharged, almost 100 per cent increase compared to the previous week’s record.

But this large increase in the number of patients who recovered from the infection did not reduce the number of those currently on admission as the country still has 23,933 patients receiving treatments.

The only plausible reason for this is the significant increase in the number of new COVID-19 infections recorded last week.

High mortality rate

According to data from NCDC, the country continues to record more deaths from the disease.

In the previous week, 70 deaths were reported — the highest in a week in the new year.

However, last week, Nigeria reported 82 deaths, which represents a 14 per cent increase from the previous week’s record.

The rise in mortality rate shows that the second wave of the pandemic is deadlier than the first as more patients are symptomatic and require breathing support.

Nigeria so far

As of the time of reporting, Nigeria has 120,602 confirmed COVID-19 cases. Of this figure, 95,901 have been discharged and 1,502 deaths have been recorded in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

A breakdown of the confirmed cases shows that Lagos State has so far reported 44, 580 cases, followed by FCT – 15, 682, Plateau — 7, 465, Kaduna — 7, 274, Oyo — 4, 996, Rivers — 4,884 Edo — 3, 548, Ogun — 3, 133, Kano — 2, 770, Delta — 2, 223, Ondo — 2, 188, Kwara — 1, 793, Katsina — 1, 730, Enugu — 1, 644, Gombe — 1, 567, Nasarawa — 1, 490, Osun — 1, 395, Ebonyi — 1, 330, Abia– 1, 162, Bauchi — 1, 120, Imo– 917, Borno — 880, Akwa Ibom — 775, Anambra — 720, Benue — 694, Sokoto — 689, Bayelsa — 655, Niger — 617, Adamawa — 608, Ekiti — 507, Jigawa — 441, Taraba — 324, Kebbi — 267, Yobe– 211, Cross River– 179, Zamfara — 179 and Kogi — 5.

Lagos State remains the epicentre of the disease with the highest number of confirmed cases and deaths in the country.

The other five states with the highest number of confirmed cases are FCT, Kaduna, Plateau, Oyo and Rivers.

Of the 36 states and the FCT, only Kogi did not record a new case last week or have an active COVID-19 case. PREMIUM TIMES reported how Kogi has been reluctant to test its residents for COVID-19 with the governor, Yahaya Bello, also making false statements about the virus and vaccines.

Timeline last week

On Sunday, 1,444 new COVID-19 cases were reported in the country.

As of 11:55 p.m. on January 17, a total of 110,387 cases had been reported, out of which 89,317 had recovered and 1,435 deaths recorded.

On Monday, 1,617 new cases were reported in the country, while on Tuesday, 1,301 new cases were reported.

On Wednesday, 1,386 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in the country and on Thursday, 1,964 new cases were reported, bringing the tally of confirmed cases in Nigeria to 116,655.

On Friday, 2,314 new cases of the pandemic were recorded and on Saturday, 1,633 new cases were reported, hence bringing the tally of confirmed cases in the country to 120,602 as of 11:55 p.m. on January 23.