Nigeria’s economic capital, Lagos has been the epicentre of COVID-19 spread accounting for 34 percent of the country’s total caseload as well as 18 percent of deaths.
The footprints of the virus in Lagos is mapped by a population of over 20 million people, mostly crammed together when commuting, working, trading, schooling or worshipping among other daily activities.
The charts below show the pattern of the virus has followed in the state.
Transmission earlier in March 2020 began slowly and seemed like it could easily be contained. But events in the subsequent months saw a shift from an average daily count of about 170 cases to about 375 by July, a period considered the peak of the first wave of the pandemic.
July remained the peak period of infection in Lagos and even nationally until a resurgence started in December.
December marked the beginning of a second wave of the disease following sharp spikes in the rate of infection. An all-time high of 459 cases were confirmed in the state as of December 16, forcing tighter restrictions in public spaces as many prepared for Christmas and New Year festivities.
The five-month lockdown imposed in the state from March to May partly depressed the entire economy by 6.1 percent in the second quarter of 2020 and a 34.1 percent loss estimated at $16 billion.
Read also: COVID-19 second wave: Edo records 198 cases since December
Positivity for travellers has been rising, hitting 8 percent in the last week of December and 4 percent cumulatively as Nigerians in Diaspora return to spend Christmas in Lagos.
Lagos has equally seen the highest deaths resulting from COVID-19 complications, accounting for 247 of 1,311 deaths as of January 3, 2021.
Volume of samples tested by public and private labs
There are 21 accredited laboratories and 4 public health laboratories testing for COVID-19 currently in the state. According to the state government, a total of 236, 212 samples have been tested, representing 24.6 percent of the total tests done across the country.
The balance 22,589 of these were repeated samples tested while 31, 321 were diagnosed positive.
Trends in positivity across LGAs
Eti-Osa, a highbrow local government area has led community spread of the virus since its prevalence, with 27 percent of the total cases in Lagos stemming from there.
