Cholera killed 3,604 in 33 states, FCT in 2021–NCDC as 222 Lassa fever cases recorded in 1 week
Cholera claimed 3, 604 lives in 33 states and the Federal Capital Territory last year, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has said.
The affected states are Abia, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Enugu, FCT, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Plateau, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe, Rivers and Zamfara.
The NCDC, in its situation report yesterday, said a total of 111,062 suspected cases of the disease were recorded across the states within the period.
“Of the suspected cases since the beginning of the year, age group 5 - 14 years is the most affected age group for male and female. Of all suspected cases, 50% are males and 50% are females,” the report said.
The NCDC also yesterday reported that Nigeria recorded 222 confirmed cases and two deaths from Lassa fever in the first week of this year.
It said in 2022, 10 states had recorded at least one confirmed case across 20 local government areas.
“In week 1, the number of new confirmed cases increased from 28 in week 52, 2021 to 48 cases. These were reported from Bauchi, Edo, Ondo, Benue, Taraba, Kaduna, Plateau, Kogi, Cross River and Ebonyi States.
“Cumulatively as of week 1, 2022, two deaths have been reported with a case fatality rate (CFR) of 4.2 percent which is lower than the CFR for the same period in 2021 (22.2 percent) . In total for 2022, 10 States have recorded at least one confirmed case across 20 Local Government Areas ,” the report said
The NCDC said of all confirmed cases, Bauchi accounted for 29 percent; Edo, 27 and Ondo, percent .
“The number of suspected cases has increased compared to that reported for the same period in 2021,” it said.
It added that one new healthcare worker affected from Benue State was recorded in week one.
Meanwhile, Lassa fever recently killed several residents of the Oke-Ogun area of Oyo State,
Following this, the Commissioner for Health, Bode Ladipo, yesterday said the state government had set up a surveillance system across local government areas to abate further transmission of the illness in the state.
Nigeria will launch a new communication satellite (Sat 2) into the orbit this year, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami has said.
Pantami disclosed this in Abuja yesterday during a one-day working visit and interaction with the staff of the Nigerian Communications Satellite.
He said he had secured the approval of President Muhammadu Buhari to purchase another communications satellite for the country.
The minister said the new satellite would boost the nation’s satellite communications capacity and the economy.
He said he had lobbied the Minister of Finance to include this in the 2022 budget.
The government had earmarked N2.5bn for satellite 2 project in the 2022 budget.
Pantami said he had approved establishment of some subsidiaries under NIGCOMSAT as part of the ongoing effort to revive the institution back to the part of progress and productivity.
Speaking on the revolution in NITDA, Pantami said through innovative policies and implementation, he succeeded in raising NITDA revenue from N7bn to N19bn annually.
He said he had also secured the approval of N25bn for the infrastructure upgrade of the National Identity Management Commission.