Lassa Fever 2020 Outbreak: The Story So Far!

As the number of Lassa Fever cases in Nigeria for the 2020 outbreak approaches the 1000 mark, we decided to go down the road on how we have managed this highly contagious disease so far.

Lassa Fever is a type of Viral Haermorrhagic Fever (VHF), caused by the Lassa Fever Virus. Read more about Lassa fever here.

The current outbreak started in Edo State in January, 2020, before spreading to other states in the early 2020. By the 22nd of January, 163 confirmed cases of lassa fever with 24 deaths have been recorded from 9 states, with Edo and Ondo as the peak centres.

A week later, by the 26th of January, we recorded 95 new cases of Lassa Fever and 19 new deaths taking the total number of cases of the 2020 outbreak to 690 Suspected cases, 258 confirmed cases and 41 deaths. Edo state contributed 34 new cases and Ondo state 16 cases from Ondo. According to NCDC director, Dr. Chike, The bad is news is we have more cases of Lassa fever than we have seen at this time of year The good news is fewer people are dying of Lassa fever. We are getting better at managing this disease”. “The earlier you come to the hospital if you notice symptoms of Lassa fever & the right diagnosis is made, the better we have a chance of helping you survive.

A week later, by the 2nd of February, Nigeria recorded a 104 new confirmed cases, with 6 new deaths, taking the total number of cases from the 2020 outbreak to 365, with 47 deaths, including that of a health worker. Again, Edo has 40 new cases with 27 from Ondo.

A week later, by the 9th of February, we recorded 109 new confirmed cases again and 8 new deaths, taking the total confirmed cases to 472 and the total deaths from the Lassa Fever outbreak to 70. 39 new cases was recorded in Edo and 27 in Ondo.

By the 16th of February, we had 115 new confirmed cases and 18 new deaths, taking the 2020 Lassa fever outbreak to 586 total confirmed cases and 103 total deaths. Edo had 41 new cases and 31 new cases from ondo state.

By the 23rd of february, we recorded 102 new confirmed cases and 13 new deaths from Lassa fever taking the total cases from the 2020 Lassa fever outbreak to 689 total confirmed cases and 118 total deaths. Ondo has 34, and 22 cases from Edo.

By the 1st of March, Nigeria recorded 85 new confirmed cases and 11 new deaths taking the total confirmed cases to 775 and total deaths to 132 for the 2020 lassa fever outbreak in Nigeria.

On the 8th of March, 81 new confirmed cases of Lassa Fever was recorded with 9 new deaths, taking the total confirmed cases to 855 and total deaths to 144 deaths.

On the 15th of March, 51 new cases and 9 new deaths from lass fever was recorded in Nigeria, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 906 with 161 deaths. At this time, 4 health workers have been affected by the disease.

By the 22nd March, we had recorded 28 new confirmed cases with 3 new deaths from the Lassa fever virus in Nigeria taking the total number of cases to 932 and deaths to 176.

On the 29th of March, the decline in cases of Lassa fever continues, with 19 new confirmed cases and 1 death. This makes it a total of 951 confirmed cases and 185 deaths since the 2020 outbreak of Lassa Fever in Nigeria.

Currently, we have almost a thousand cases of Lassa fever in Nigeria and almost 200 deaths.

This list would be updated daily as the Lassa Fever situation In Nigeria management continues.

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