Amidst vaccine fear, distrust, Nigeria’s COVID-19 death toll hits over 2000

Recent reports from the Nigeria Center for Disease Control, (NCDC) indicate that so far over 2,000 people have died as a result of coronavirus in Nigeria. 

Even as Nigerians become divided over the acceptance of the Oxford Astra Zenica COVID-19 Vaccine that has been brought in by the federal government to innoculate the citizens, about eight people have been reported dead from the disease on Thursday. The latest figure has raised the death toll to 2,001, an NCDC report said. 

A report by PREMIUM TIMES, Nigeria’s foremost investigation online newspaper, said “an average of 10 people died daily from COVID-19 in the past week in Nigeria. Thursday’s death figure raised the fatality toll in the past nine days to 94 in total.”

“The reason for rising in fatalities is not far-fetched. When there is a sharp rise in new cases, there will be more deaths”, said NCDC’s Chikwe Ihekweazu, during the worst phase of the virus earlier this year.

Officials said though the death toll is high, the level of infection has drastically reduced. 

A total of  287 new COVID-19 infections have been reported on Thursday in 18 states; which is just a bit lower than what was recorded the previous day –  394 infections.

Nigeria currently has a total infection of  159,933.

Nigeria reported an average of 1,000 infections daily between December and January. Infection figures have relatively reduced with daily cases hovering between 195 and 709 in the past two weeks.

The 195 cases last Saturday are the lowest reported since August 31, 2020, when there were 138 new infections.

New Cases of Thursday 

The 287 new cases were reported from 18 states: Lagos (107), Kwara (26), Akwa Ibom (23), Bauchi (22), Ogun (21), Rivers (19), Kaduna (14), FCT (11), Abia (8), Edo (8), Ekiti (6), Kano (5), Gombe (4), Osun (4), Oyo (3), Plateau (3), Nasarawa (2), and Delta (1). Lagos had the highest toll on Thursday with 107 new cases, almost half of the days total. The city is the most affected by the disease in Nigeria.