Kwara Medical Advisory Sub-Committee on COVID-19 has reported a second wave of the pandemic in the state.
Chairman of the sub-committee, Dr. Femi Oladiji in a statement said Nigeria has in the last few weeks recorded surge in confirmed cases of COVID-19 adding that Kwara is not exempted.
The last few weeks have recorded a new surge in confirmed COVID-19 cases across Nigeria. Kwara State is no exception.
” There are two epidemiological curves of the disease in Kwara. The first curve peaked between July and August, and then plummeted between September and October, at which stage people thought COVID- 19 was winding down”.
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He said while some States thus started closing their isolation centres,Kwara State, isolation centre at Covid-19/Infectious Disease Centre Sobi, Alagbado, remains operational, and is maintained by the Medical Advisory Committee and dedicated frontline medical personnel, including Laboratory Scientists and attendants.
” It is important to state clearly that we now have the second wave of COVID-19 outbreak in Kwara State — just like a few other states of the country, Oladiji said.
According to him,the second curve started early in November with sharp rise in number of positive cases.
He attributed the second wave to increase in awareness for voluntary testing, which has increased the number of new cases and nonchalant attitude of many Kwara State residents and non-adherence to preventive measures against the disease.
He also blamed the influx of people from outside Kwara and expansion of sampling and testing capacities of the state.
Oladiji said testing has been boosted with the assistance of the Regional Disease Surveillance System Enhancement and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.
He stated that statistically, cross sectional studies conducted by a team of researchers of the Medical Advisory Sub-Committee on Covid-19 Kwara State reported that between 11th July – 11th August 2020 the total number of confirmed cases was 500, whereas between 11th September – 11th October 2020, the total number of confirmed cases dropped to 63.
” However, between 11th November and 11th December’s 2020, the total number of confirmed cases rose to 180.”
This he said is an approximate threefold increase with 17 cases on admission at the isolation centre.
However on December 11 alone, the state reported 23 confirmed cases!”he said.
Oladiji however warned residents of the state to adhere to preventive measures at all times to limit the spread of the disease.
