Only one in every seven COVID-19 cases in Lagos have recovered from the disease. The recovery rate is slightly different in Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT) where only two in every seven cases have recovered from the viral disease.
One in every two cases recovered in Oyo State, three in every five recovered in Edo State, and two in every three cases in Rivers State have recovered.
These are some of the findings from the data obtained in the compilation of COVID-19 cases by Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
Although some states have reported high numbers of recovery from the coronavirus infections, the proportion becomes low when compared to the total number of confirmed cases. For instance, Lagos has the most number of recoveries in the country. While 1,948 people have recovered from the disease in Lagos, the proportion converts merely to 15.05 percent relative to the 12,941 confirmed cases in the state. Thus, Lagos State sits at the lowest rung of COVID-19 recovery in the country.
Next to Lagos in recovery rate is Ondo State (17.92 percent), Imo State (18.83 percent), Osun State (27.01 percent), Benue State (29.37 percent), and the FCT (29.99 percent). States that have shown higher recovery rates are Bauchi (96.93 percent), Jigawa (95.95 percent), Zamfara (93.42 percent), Sokoto (88.89 percent), Gombe (85.37 percent), Kebbi (84.09 percent), and Ebonyi (82.35 percent). Yet, these rates are relative to the total number of confirmed cases.
The data has also revealed the incidences of COVID-19 deaths in the country.
By number, Lagos State has the most death with 175 cumulative deaths from the viral disease. Other states with high number of COVID-19 deaths are Edo (60), Kano (52), Rivers (47), FCT (39), Borno (35), and Delta (35).
However, proportionally, Lagos State’s COVID-19 death rate stands only at 1.35 percent. Edo, Kano, Rivers, FCT, Borno, and Delta States have COVID-19 death rates of 3.24 percent, 3.95 percent, 3.29 percent, 1.42 percent, 5.9 percent, and 2.5 percent, respectively. Taraba, Abia, and Oyo States have the least death rates in the country with 0 percent, 0.73 percent, and 0.97 percent death rates, respectively.
On the other hand, Kogi, Yobe, Sokoto, Cross-Rivers, and Anambra State have the highest rates of deaths in Nigeria. 40 percent of COVID-19 patients in Kogi State have succumbed to the virus. By implication, two in every five confirmed cases die from the illness. For Yobe, Sokoto, Cross-Rivers, and Anambra States, death rates stand at 12.90 percent, 10.46 percent, 10 percent, and 8.91 percent, respectively.
Further, according to the data, there has been increasing growth in the number of new COVID-19 cases in Nigeria. While as much as 19 states have reported new cases recently, some states appear to have documented a greater number of new cases. In Lagos, there are 230 new cases. Oyo, FCT, Edo, Osun, Ebonyi, and Rivers have also documented 69, 51, 43, 35, 30, and 30 new cases each, respectively.
Among other things, details of COVID-19 infection on a state-by-state basis confirms the reality of the pandemic in the country as well as presents the extent of vulnerability in different areas of the country. From the data on total cases, deaths, and new cases, it appears that residents in Lagos, FCT, Oyo, Edo, Rivers, Ogun, Ondo, Delta, Kano, and Kastina States have more COVID-19 transmission risks than other states. Still, this does not imply that other states are not vulnerable to the deadly virus.
The data also emphasizes the need for caution among Nigerian across the country. Nigerians need to desist from non-compliance to guidelines as well as from actions suggestive of indifference to the reality of the pandemic. In addition, the data suggest that the pandemic might require varied responses at subnational levels. Thus, each state should develop guidelines and strategies based on individual realities. Perhaps there is also a need for more decisive restrictive actions or a modulated form of economic resumption in the states that appear to have more COVID-19 risk.
But the compilation of COVID-19 cases by NBS threw in another important dimension. Using data from the 2018 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey and General Household Survey (2018-2019), NBS presented the Health Facilities Access Risk Profile on a state by state basis. Zamfara, Kaduna, Borno, Yobe, Sokoto, Delta, and Kebbi have the highest risks in terms of accessibility to health facilities and low usage of the medical system.
Of the ten states identified to have higher COVID-19 transmission risks, five have significantly high health facilities access risk profiles. These states are Kaduna, Oyo, Ogun, Ondo, and Delta. The low level of access to facilities in these states raises alarm in the case of an expanded scale of COVID-19 transmission. Thus, Nigerians in these states must exercise themselves with caution as the world awaits a vaccine for the killer virus.