Fed Govt Officially Declares Lassa Fever Outbreak

The Federal Government has formally declared an outbreak  of Lassa Fever in the country.

Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, announced this in a statement he personally signed on Tuesday.

To that end, the government has activated emergency response centres for Lassa fever cases for prompt reporting and action.

According to Dr. Ihekweazu, there has been an increase in the number of Lassa fever cases reported from several states across the country since the beginning of the year.

The NCDC boss added that recent epidemiological data shows that the trend usually occurs during the dry season – between January and April.

“As at 13 January 2019, a total of 60 confirmed cases have been reported in eight states,” he revealed.

“Given this increase in reported cases of Lassa fever, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has declared this an outbreak and activated an Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) to coordinate the response.”

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