Godwin ShaibuPhoto Credit: Within Nigeria.
NIGERIA’S positivity rate for the COVID-19 has jumped more than 100 percent in just two weeks, yet there is no indication of an official
lockdown, Prime Business Africa reports.
Rising from its meeting on Thursday, the National Economic Council (NEC), led by the country’s Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, announced an increase of positivity average of 1.5 percent to 3.5 percent in just two weeks but promised there would be no socio-economic lockdown in the country.
Lagos, which, alongside Rivers and Kwara states, leads the pack in high infection rate, recorded an overwhelming 5.5 percent increase in the two-week period under review. The rate overshadows the national average of 3.5 percent positivity rate.
Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who spoke shortly after the Thursday meeting by NEC in Abuja, said the Director General of the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Chikwe Ihekweazu listed Lagos State as having the highest burden of 70 per cent to 80 per cent of the cases. The state recorded steady increase in number of cases in the last 10 weeks.
“In the last two weeks, we have seen an increase from a positivity average of about 1.5 per cent to positivity average nationally of about 3.5 per cent; Lagos has seen a positivity of 5.5 per cent in the last two weeks; so Lagos, Rivers and Kwara from the report have seen increases in positivity rates,” Sanwo-Olu said.
“It is important for us to know that the Delta variant, which is the new variant, is also in our country and has also been identified in a total of 103 countries globally.
“The Delta variant is 60 per cent more transmissible than the Alfa variant; so, we are watching all the trends and the NCDC and Lagos will be working collaboratively,’’ Sanwo-Olu said.
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