According to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), 24 people in total have died from the latest outbreak of Lassa fever in the country.
Fourteen persons initially died from the outbreak as in the second week and 10 people lost their lives in the third week of the disease outbreak.

In its epidemiological report of  13 – 19 January, the centre said: “In week 3, the number of new confirmed cases has increased from 64 cases in week 1, 2020 to 81. These were reported from six states – Ondo, Edo, Delta, Taraba, Plateau, and Bauchi.

“89 percent of all confirmed cases are from the states of Edo (38 percent), Ondo (38 percent) and Ebonyi (11 percent). The predominant age-group affected is between 11 and 40 years (Range: >11 to 60 years, Median Age: 33 years). The male to female ratio for confirmed cases is 1:1”.

Ondo has the highest number of new confirmed cases at 43, followed by Edo at 33.

“The overall case fatality rate (CFR) for 2020 is 14.7 percent which is lower than the CFR for the same period during 2019, which was 23.4 percent. In total for 2020, nine states have recorded at least one confirmed case across 32 local government areas.

“The number of suspected cases has increased but is lower than the numbers reported in 2019. No Health Care Worker infection was identified in the reporting week 03,” the report said.