Nigeria faces deadly Delta wave as COVID-19 infections surge to 213

*Nigeria, like other countries across the world, is at risk of a surge in COVID-19 cases, given the detection of the Delta variant, says Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, Director-General of Nigeria Centre for Disease Control

Emmanuel Akosile | ConsumerConnect

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has recorded 213 additional cases of COVID-19.

The latest figure brings the total number of infections in the West African country to 171, 324, as of Monday, July 26, 2021.

The health regulatory body stated this on its official Web site morning Tuesday, July 27.

The NCDC said it recorded two COVID-19 related deaths Monday, whereas nine additional people recovered from the virus as of July 26.

The agency also noted that the new infections were recorded in 12 states of the Federation, namely: Lagos-157, Rivers-20, Plateau-12, Enugu-6, Oyo-6, Gombe-3, Bauchi-2, Imo-2, Kaduna-2, Edo-1, Ekiti-1, and Ogun-1.

Since the outbreak of the Coronavirus disease in the country February 27, 2020, a total of 2,134 persons had lost their lives, while 164,798 recovered from the virus and discharged from health centres across the country, according to NCDC.

It said that a multi-sectoral national emergency operations centre (EOC), activated at Level 2, had continued to coordinate the national response activities.

Meanwhile, the country has tested over 2.4 million samples for the virus and had detected 10 cases of COVID-19 Delta variant.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that the COVID-19 variant is of high concern, given its increased transmissibility.

It was learnt that the variant has been detected in over 100 countries across the world and may spread further.

ConsumerConnect also gathered that following some weeks of steady decline in the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases, Nigeria is now responding to what authorities are describing as a “likely third wave” of the pandemic, mostly led by the more contagious Delta variant.

However, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, Director-General of NCDC, noted that there is greater risk of a surge in infections as more people disregard the public health measures in place, The Africa Report said.

Against a backdrop of nationwide vaccinations and testing campaigns that targeted hard-to-reach areas, the country has been able to keep the rate of COVID-19 infections under control until early July, when things gradually began to change for the worse again, according to report.

Official data analysed by The Africa Report indicated that after the NCDC announced July 8, that it had detected the highly infectious Delta variant, and 1,866 cases were confirmed in the two weeks that followed: a 154% increase from the 735 infections recorded within the same period before the announcement.

Much of the increase was reported in the commercial capital Lagos, report stated.

According to the health agency, Nigerians still have a window of opportunity to prevent this surge, but this requires personal and collective responsibility.

Dr. Ihekweazu was quoted to have said: “Nigeria, like other countries across the world, is at risk of a surge in COVID-19 cases, given the detection of the Delta variant….  The risk of a surge in cases is higher as more people disregard the public health and social measures in place.

“Given the evidence that the Delta variant spreads faster, it is even more important to adhere to these measures.

“We still have a window of opportunity to prevent this surge, but this requires personal and collective responsibility.”

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