Nigeria is facing a fast rise in deaths occurring from Covid-19 infections as 38 new deaths were recorded last week, the situation report released by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Thursday evening shows.
The 55 percent rise in death rate marks a month high that moved sharply from just three deaths reported in the week ended July 18 to 17 deaths by August 1.
This comes as a fallout of the surging increases in new infections fuelled by the outbreak of the very contagious variant of the Covid-19 virus, Delta.
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In the reviewed week, new confirmed cases rose to 3,771 from 3,218 reported in the previous week and 425 travellers tested positive out of 11,446 tested.
The third wave of infections remains in full swing even as Nigeria is only beginning to see a green light on acquiring vaccines. This week has, for instance, seen daily cases beat a five-month high with 790 cases recorded on Wednesday.
Some respite could be gained if the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) begins the rollout of over 4 million doses of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine donated by the United States and 176,000 doses of Johnson and Johnson’s vaccines received on Wednesday.
