The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has announced increase of 307 in the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in the country. The new cases were confirmed across 14 states and FCT. This brings the total number of confirmed cases in Nigeria to 10,162, out of which 3,007 persons have recovered, with 287 deaths recorded.
The details of the new cases are as follows; Lagos-188, FCT-44, Ogun-19, Kaduna-14, Oyo-12, Bayelsa-9, Gombe-5, Kano-3, Delta-3, Imo-2, Rivers-2, Niger-2, Bauchi-2, Plateau-1, and Kwara-1.
One thing noticeable in the number of confirmed new cases in Nigeria is the irregularity in the pattern. It neither has a steady increase nor steady decrease. Thus, it will be difficult to see the trend of infections in the country.
This lack of pattern shows the loopholes in the handling of the pandemic in Nigeria. Lack of adequate testing, contact tracing and method of result collation all contribute to this zig zag nature of the daily reported new cases in the country.
However, one thing is clear, the level of community spread is high as 74% of all the confirmed cases have no epidemiological history according NCDC situation report as at 30 May 2020. One can predict that number of confirmed cases will increase in the near future if Nigeria’s testing capacity is increased. On the other hand, the virus will continue to spread undetected across the country due to inadequate testing.
Till date only 60,825 samples have been tested for Covid-19 in Nigeria since the outbreak began in a population of over 200 million people.
The last time NCDC released the number of Covid-19 tests conducted per state in its situation report was as on 18 May. The report showed that only 720 tests had been conducted in the entire 5 eastern states, 59 in Benue, 50 in Yobe, with one test in Kogi state and 7 in Cross River state.
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Ten states with the highest number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Nigeria are
The members of the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) have threatened to embark on a strike in 14 days if adequate PPE for Covid-19 was not provided. In addition, the doctors are requesting for an inducement allowance and that resident doctors who were sacked at the Jos University Teaching Hospital be recalled.
In a communique signed by NARD President, Dr. Aliyu Sokomba, the doctors noted “the perpetual lack of personal protective equipment, PPEs, in tertiary teaching hospital” calling on government to provide adequate PPEs.
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The association in the communique also called on the security agencies to stop the harassment and assaults of doctors while they are carrying out their legitimate activities.
In another development, the governor of Ogun state Dapo Abiodun has said that the strike embarked on by the doctors in his state is “irresponsible and politically motivated”.
The doctors under the aegis of Association of Resident Doctors, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Sagamu had embarked on a weekend strike which means they only go to work on weekdays.
According to the doctors, the state governor did not commit to the issues they raised which includes but not limited to implementation of new minimum wage, life insurance, appropriate remuneration and hazardous allowance.
The striking of doctors in Nigeria in the middle of pandemic that has infected over 10,000 people in the country, further buttresses the inefficiencies and unpreparedness of the governments in Nigeria to handle this outbreak and bring it under control.
Nigeria remains the worst affected country in West Africa. It has the highest number of confirmed cases and deaths in the region. It is followed by Ghana with 8,881 confirmed cases, 2,841 recoveries and 36 deaths.
South Africa remains the country hardest hit in Africa. The country has confirmed 32,683 cases of Covid-19 with 16,809 recoveries and 683 deaths.
Total of 142,289 cases have been confirmed in Africa, with 59,864 recoveries and 4,084 deaths.
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In Russia, the number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 have exceeded 400,000. However, the number of daily confirmed new cases is declining after reaching a peak of more than 11,000 in early May. Russia has the third largest number of confirmed Covid-19 cases worldwide behind the U.S and Brazil.
Russia has recorded 405,843 cases of Covid-19 with 171,883 recoveries and 4,693 deaths.
In India, the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases have surpassed that of Germany and France. India is the country with the 7th largest number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in the world behind Spain and Italy.
The country has started easing lockdown measures and allowing commercial flights to resume locally. India has recorded 190,609 confirmed cases of Covid-19, with 91,852 recoveries and 5,408 deaths.
In the U.S, the number of cases is bound to escalate in the coming weeks due to distancing measures that has been thrown into the winds in course of protests arising from George Floyd’s death.
The United States has the highest number of confirmed cases and deaths in the world. Total of 1,786,030 cases have been recorded in the country with 416,461 recoveries and 104,232 deaths.
Globally, 6,131,531 cases have been confirmed, with 2,603,884 recoveries and 371,066 deaths according to John Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Centre. This puts the global recovery rate at 42.46% and death rate 6.05%.
Written by;
Ifunanya Ikueze
