ANALYSIS: Nigeria Recorded Half of Previous COVID-19 Deaths A Week After Relaxing Lockdown

 

In the last seven days, Nigeria has recorded fifty percent of its previous COVID-19 deaths, official data from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) showed. 

Recall that the relaxation of the lockdown in the FCT, Lagos, Ogun and in some other states began last week following the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari. 

However, since the lifting of the lockdown, many Nigerians have flouted the guidelines on physical distancing in public places. 

Allnews reports that a multitude was seen trying to force their way into banks upon the relaxation of the lockdown on Monday. Also, the inter-state travel ban was grossly violated as hundreds of travellers were nabbed across the country. 

In fact, the Kaduna State Government said it realised over one million naira as fines from violators of the lockdown, majorly inter-state ban, in two days. 

The Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General, Aisha Dikko, made it known that 311 out of the 373 violators arrested on Monday and Tuesday have been convicted. 

As of Saturday evening, the country has a total of 4151 confirmed cases, out of which 745 have recovered and 128 lives have been lost to the pandemic. 

According to the breakdown, Lagos State has so far reported 1,764cases, followed by Kano – 576, FCT – 343, Bauchi – 161, Borno – 159, Katsina – 156, Ogun – 115, Gombe – 110, Kaduna – 98, Sokoto – 96, Jigawa – 83, Edo – 67, Zamfara – 65.Oyo – 64, Osun – 38, Kwara – 30, Nasarawa – 25, Rivers – 21, Kebbi – 18, Delta – 17, Plateau – 17, Adamawa – 17, Akwa Ibom – 17, Taraba – 15, Ondo – 15, Yobe – 13, Ekiti – 13, Enugu – 10, Ebonyi – 7, Niger – 6, Bayelsa – 5, Benue – 2, Imo – 3, Abia – 2, Anambra – 1.

Meanwhile, Allnews' analysis revealed that Nigeria is yet to flatten the curve with the rise in figures. 

Data

The country recorded 1763 new cases when compared with the previous total of 2388 reported last Saturday. This represents a 73 percent increase in the tally of the cases recorded in the past nine weeks. 

Also, the number of deaths rose by 50 percent after 43 new deaths were recorded as against the previous 85 who died in the last nine weeks. 

Meanwhile, 93 percent of the previous total recoveries were reported last week. It should be noted that 360 people recovered and were discharged in the past week as against the 385 reported last Saturday. 

More so, Nigeria broke its previous daily highest record of 220 after it recorded 381 and 386 on Thursday and Friday respectively. 

With the high figures, the previous daily average of 151 doubled within a week as it currently stands at 363.

Lagos state remains the epicentre of the pandemic in Nigeria with 696 new cases reported between Sunday and Saturday. 

In lieu of the rising surge and the violation of the public health guidelines, the Lagos state government is considering another cessation of movement. 

The state Governor, Babajide Sanwo-olu, said the state authorities will not hesitate to review the terms of the easing of lockdown if there is no improvement in adherence to the public health guidelines in the next couple of days. 

“We will be forced to take a painful decision of bringing the entire system under lockdown if we continue to see evidence that Lagosians are determined to flout the rules," He said.

Nevertheless, this medium reviews how the cases rose this last week. 

Timeline 

On Sunday, 170 new cases of the pandemic were recorded; 39-Lagos, 29-Kano, 24-Ogun, 18-Bauchi, 15-Kaduna, 12-FCT, 12-Sokoto, 8-Katsina, 7-Borno, 3-Nasarawa, 2-Adamawa and 1in Oyo

On Monday, 245 new cases of COVID-19 were reported; 76-Lagos, 37-Katsina, 32-Jigawa, 23-Kano, 19-FCT, 18-Borno, 10-Edo, 9-Bauchi, 6-Adamawa, 5-Oyo, 5-Ogun, 1-Ekiti, 1-Osun, 1-Benue, 1-Niger and 1 in Zamfara. 

On Tuesday 148 new cases of COVID-19 were reported; 43-Lagos, 32-Kano, 14-Zamfara, 10-FCT, 9-Katsina, 7-Taraba, 6-Borno, 6-Ogun, 5-Oyo, 3-Edo, 3-Kaduna, 3-Bauchi, 2-Adamawa, 2-Gombe, 1-Plateau, 1-Sokoto and one in Kebbi. 

On Wednesday, 195 new cases were reported: 82-Lagos, 30-Kano, 19-Zamfara, 18-Sokoto, 10-Borno, 9-FCT, 8-Oyo, 5-Kebbi, 5-Gombe, 4-Ogun, 3-Katsina, 1-Kaduna and one in Adamawa. 

On Thursday, 381 new cases of COVID-19 were recorded; 183-Lagos, 55-Kano, 44-Jigawa, 19-Zamfara, 19-Bauchi, 11-Katsina, 9-Borno, 8-Kwara, 7-Kaduna, 6-Gombe, 5-Ogun, 4-Sokoto, 3-Oyo, 3-Rivers, 2-Niger, 1-Akwa Ibom, 1-Enugu, 1-Plateau. 

On Friday, 386 new cases of the virus reported; 176-Lagos, 65-Kano, 31-Katsina, 20-FCT, 17-Borno, 15-Bauchi, 14-Nasarawa, 13-Ogun, 10-Plateau, 4-Oyo, 4-Sokoto, 4-Rivers, 3-Kaduna, 2-Edo, 2-Ebonyi, 2-Ondo, 1-Enugu, 1-Imo, 1-Gombe and 1 in Osun. 

On Saturday, 239 new cases of the pandemic were reported; 97-Lagos, 44-Bauchi, 29-Kano, 19-Katsina, 17-Borno, 7-FCT, 6-Kwara, 5-Oyo, 3-Kaduna, 3-Sokoto, 2-Adamawa, 2-Kebbi, 2-Plateau, 2-Ogun and one in Ekiti. 

Therefore, a total of 4151 cases, 745 discharged and 128 persons have died as a result of the infectious disease so far.