• 1,584 cases recorded in 12 days

• Lagos accounted for 82.5%

Nigeria recorded 1,584 positive cases of COVID-19 in the last 12 days – between June 30 and July 11.

Reports by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) showed that from June 30 to July 1, July 2 to 8, and July 9 to 11, a total of 347; 880; and 357 cases were reported.

Out of the 1,584 cases in the period under consideration (June 30 to July 11), Lagos State recorded 1,307 cases, accounting for 82.5 per cent of the total cases recorded in the country.

Further investigation by The Nation showed that the total number of positive cases reported in the last 12 days is more than what was recorded in May (357) and June (1,146) combined, being 1,503 cases.

Speaking with The Nation, the former Chairman of the Medical Sub-Committee of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Ministerial Expert Advisory Committee on COVID-19, Dr. Ejike Orji, said: “According to the report for the FCT, the number of new confirmed cases for Week 26 was 31. In Week 27, a total of 37 cases were reported, and in the last 24 hours, it is just three. For now, the positivity rate is still very low, at 1.5 per cent, and the case fatality rate is 0.9 per cent.

“What we see that will scare us (even though this may be too early) is what we call the doubling time. Lagos has been having a lot of cases. This is worrisome because of the doubling time. If you draw the trend, you can see that it is a spike.

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“Also, most of the numbers are fallacious in a way because the only ones reported are the ones tested. Even in Abuja here, the level of testing is not very high. It is only when you test that you get the result.

“A source of worry is that this latest variant can go undetected in the nasopharynx, and could do untold damage to the lungs. Some people might fall very ill before they even realise that they have COVID-19. It can be asymptomatic; people may be carrying the disease without knowing.

“With the spike undulating from 265 to 750 and to 292 cases in the period between June 30 and July 11 in Lagos, it is important to watch what will happen in the next one week. If there is no big spike, then we won’t have to worry so much.

“Globally, even though it seems as if the virus has gone down, however, if it is in one country that it is circulating, it is still dangerous to the world because what this virus does is that if it keeps freely circulating in one country, suddenly, another variant would mutate, that is more deadly.

“Once that happens, it will escape from that country to other countries, and another pandemic can set in. It is still circulating in China and North Korea. Even though it seems like it is so far away, it is just one plane drive.

“This means we should increase our surveillance at our ports. We should start doing some level of destination testing, especially for people who are not vaccinated.

“The NCDC continues to urge Nigerians to comply with the non-pharmaceutical protocols of regular hand-washing with soap under flowing water, using alcohol-based hand sanitisers, properly wearing face masks in public, and avoiding large and congested gatherings.

“Also, persons experiencing symptoms associated with COVID-19, like fever, cough, tiredness, loss of taste or smell, sore throat, headache, difficulty in breathing or shortness of breath, etc, should visit the nearest testing centre for diagnosis and treatment.”