Lagos Leads With 3,595 As 8 Nigerian States, FCT Record over 210 Cases

At least eight Nigerian states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have recorded above 210 cases, which is the National Average for infections across the states, data show.

In an analysis done by Dr Sadiq Umar Abubakar Gombe, Lagos and the FCT alone had a total of 4,114 cases (51 per cent) of the total number of cases nationwide as at Monday, May 25.

Gombe said: “The Natural Average Spread of the COVID-19 by States/FCT is 219 cases, with only eight states.

“They are: Lagos-3,595, Kano-919, Katsina-335, Borno-255, Oyo-244, Jigawa-241, Ogun-240 and Bauchi-232.

“That is, in the Southwest – three states, Northwest – two states, Northeast– two states and the FCT.

“These states have cases above the National Averages of 219 cases while the remaining 27 states have cases below the National Average ranging from between 191 cases in Edo to five cases in Bayelsa,” he said.

Meanwhile, the remaining 35 states have a total of 3,954 cases (49 per cent) of the Total National Cases.

Nineteen Northern states had 2,888 cases (73.04 per cent) and the 16 Southern states had 1,066 cases (26.96 per cent).

The first confirmed case in Nigeria was announced on February 27, when an Italian citizen in Lagos tested positive for the virus.

On March 9, a second case of the virus was reported in Ewekoro, Ogun State, and the patient was a Nigerian citizen who had contact with the Italian.

Since March, Nigeria has tried various measures to curb the spread of the virus, including ramping up testing and ordering lockdowns in worst hit states.

As at May 25, the total confirmed cases in the country was 8,068 and the total deaths was 233.

The FCT had 519 cases (6.43 per cent), Southwest – 4,166 cases (51.64 per cent) spread in all the six states with Lagos alone having 3,595 cases (44.56 per cent) of the National Total and about 90 per cent of the cases in the zone.

The Northwest had 1,908 cases (23.65 per cent) spread among the seven states in the zone with Kano having 919 cases (11.39 per cent) of the National Total cases and about 50 per cent of cases in the zone.

Northeast had 727 cases (9.01 per cent) spread among the six states in the zone as follows: Borno-255 cases, Bauchi-232 cases, Gombe-148 cases, Yobe-47 cases, Adamawa-27 cases and Taraba-18 cases.

The South-South had 394 cases (4 .88 per cent) spread in five states, with no case recorded in Cross River State.

North Central has 253 cases (3.14 per cent) spread in five states, with no case in Kogi State.

The Southeast had 101 cases (1.25 per cent) spread among all the five states in the zone.

Gombe further broke the analysis to the North/South which showed that in the North there are 2,888 cases (35.79 per cent) as against 4,661 cases (57.77 per cent) in theSouth while FCT had a total of 519 cases (6.43 per cent).

According to him, data show that there is rapid escalation of the virus infections in the North over the period while in the South only the Lagos State situation is increasing rapidly.

As at May 25, Nigeria has conducted 46, 803 tests and only 17 percent (8, 068) have returned positive.