Nigeria’s commercial capital city, Lagos State, is driving Nigeria’s latest COVID-19 surge as the country recorded 247 infections between June 21 and 24, 2022.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) said on Saturday that out of the 247 new infections recorded, Lagos recorded 203 cases, while the Federal Capital Territory and three other states contributed the remaining figure.
The NCDC update shows that the latest cases have increased the country’s infection toll to 256,958, while the fatality toll still stands at 3,144.
But NCDC officials have declined to comment on the likely reasons behind the new surge and why Lagos is accounting for a high number of cases.
The disease centre, in its breakdown of the latest infections, revealed that Lagos state has continued to maintain the first position with a huge gap.
Of the 256,958 total cases recorded since the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020, Lagos State recorded 100,125 cases followed by the FCT and Rivers State with 28,738 and 16,761 respectively.
It also noted on its website that 3,637 people are currently down with the virus, while 250,177 people have been treated and discharged nationwide since the outbreak more than two years ago.
A further breakdown of the latest cases shows that apart from Lagos State, FCT came second on the log with 17 infections.
Rivers and Cross River States in the South-south followed with 14 and 12 cases respectively.
While Kano State in the North-west came last on the log with a single case, NCDC added that six states: Abia, Bauchi, Delta, Kaduna, Plateau and Sokoto reported that they recorded no cases within the period under review.
With vaccination considered the most effective way to curb the continuous spread of the virus, the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) said only 19.5 per cent of its 70 per cent target population in Nigeria has been fully vaccinated.
The agency noted that as of June 24, 2022, 22,092,359 of total eligible persons targeted for COVID-19 vaccination are fully vaccinated, while 11,999,198 of total eligible persons targeted for COVID-19 vaccination are partially vaccinated.
It added in its latest update on Saturday that Nasarawa, Jigawa, Kano, Kaduna and Kwara ranked the top five performing states on the COVID-19 mass vaccination campaign in Nigeria.
