Fifth wave of COVID-19 looms as Nigeria records three deaths

 

Nigeria may soon be hit by the fifth wave of the coronavirus pandemic as the country recorded 1,332 infections and three fatalities between July 16 and 23.

The latest statistics from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) shows that Nigeria is experiencing a significant surge in COVID-19 infections across the country with more than 3,000 active cases.

NCDC had hinted at the possibility of a fifth wave before the 2022 Eid-el-Kabir celebrations, urging Nigerians to adhere to recommended public health safety measures amidst the rising cases of infection in the country.

The latest NCDC data shows that the new cases have raised Nigeria’s infection toll to 260,339.

The data also revealed that the fatality toll now stands at 3,147, as a backlog of two deaths were reported for July 7 and another case reported on July 23.

On a global scale, the Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Tedros Ghebreyesus, Friday, confirmed the increasing numbers of COVID-19 infections and deaths around the world.

“In the past six weeks, the global weekly number of reported cases has almost doubled. As the virus continues to circulate widely, new and dangerous variants are emerging, including some which reduce the efficacy of vaccines,” Mr Ghebreyesus said in a statement.

During a virtual media briefing held in the same week under review, the WHO boss noted that the latest surge in infection is driven by the Omicron sublineages BA.4 and BA.5 variants of the virus.

The latest WHO statistics show that as of July 24, 569,629,979 infections and 6,383,438 deaths have been recorded globally since the pandemic outbreak in 2020.

While the NCDC didn’t state specifically what variant is driving the surge in Nigeria, it revealed in its situation report for weeks 25 and 26, spanning June 20 to July 3, that testing in the country had decreased by over 50 per cent.

It added that there is an increase in the number of inbound and outbound passengers in the week under review.

For inbound international travellers, the disease control centre noted that in weeks 25 and 26, 28 persons tested positive out of 858 travellers tested.

The centre said only 17 out of the 904 persons tested in weeks 23 and 24 tested positive.

On the other hand, 4,447 outbound international travellers were tested, out of which 133 persons tested positive, compared to 52 out of 3,987 that tested positive in weeks 23 and 24.