The Lagos State government on Monday announced that the total number of deaths recorded in the ongoing cholera outbreak had increased to 29, from the 579 patients that were actually attended to in various healthcare facilities in the state.
Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, made the disclosure during a press conference at Alausa, Ikeja, adding that majority of the deaths were due to patients presenting themselves late at the health facilities, with some of them brought in dead.
He, however, assured that the state government was in control of the situation, like it happened during the COVID-19 incident, with Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu also being the Incident Commander this time around, while he (Abayomi) serves as the Deputy Incident Commander.
The commissioner also stressed that treatment of patients remained free in order to slow down transmission of the disease.
He, however, added that the state government was yet to identify the source of the disease outbreak, saying that efforts were still on to find that out.
“The treatment is free in our hospital and healthcare facilities to slow down the transmission. We go out also to search for the patients and those that the patients might have been in contact with,” he said.
Speaking further, the commissioner said the number of reported cases had reduced from when the disease broke out, adding “as at yesterday, it was only one reported case.”
He, however, urged residents to continue to adhere to safe drinking and make sure they cook their food well before eating, ensure hygienic environment, and engage in hard washing to curb transmission of the disease.
NCDC: 53 deaths, 1528 suspected cases recorded in 2024
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) says a total of 53 deaths and 1,528 suspected cases of cholera have been recorded across 31 states in 107 local government areas with a case fatality rate of 3.5% since the beginning of 2024.
The Director-General of the agency, Dr Jide Idris, disclosed this on Monday while briefing journalists on the cholera epidemiological situation in Nigeria and ongoing prevention and response efforts at the national and subnational levels
He expressed fears that the situation may be compounded as the rain season intensifies.
To this effect, he said a National Cholera Emergency Operation Centre had been activated.
According to him: “In response to the rapidly increasing cholera cases, a dynamic risk assessment was conducted by subject matter experts on Cholera outbreak situation in Nigeria last week.
“The subject matter experts were drawn from relevant ministries (Health, Environment, Agriculture, Water Resources etc.), departments, agencies, stakeholders, and major partners.
“The outcome of the risk assessment placed the country at ‘high risk of cholera transmission and impact. This demands our immediate and coordinated actions and therefore necessitated the activation of the National Cholera Multi-Sectoral Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) in Nigeria today”.
According to him, the Emergency Operation Centre will serve as the nerve center for the coordination of response across the country, and also support affected states, facilitate rapid communication, data analysis, and decision-making processes, among others.
He sympathized with the families and friends who have lost their loved ones to the outbreak just as he acknowledged the efforts of all stakeholders at state and local governments levels as well as local and international partners.
Ogun records 25 suspected cases of Cholera in 7 LGAs
Meanwhle, the Ogun State government on Monday disclosed that the state had recorded 25 suspected cases of the disease in seven local government areas.
This was disclosed by the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Tomi Coker, at a press conference held at the Olusegun Osoba Press Centre, Governor’s Office, Abeokuta.
Coker, flanked by the Special Adviser on Media and Strategy, Hon. Kayode Akinmade and the Commissioner for Environment, Mr Ola Oresanya, advised members of the public to alert the ministry in suspected cases.
He listed the affected LGs as Ado Odo/Ota; Remo North; Odeda; Sagamu; Ijebu North; Ewekoro and Obafemi Owode.
While emphasizing that the treatment of cholera is free in all public health facilities across the state, he added that trained rapid teams across the 20 LGAs are prepared to respond to calls on these following lines: 08038642812; 07034214893 and 08084250881 on short notice.
In a similar vein, Anambra First Lady, Mrs Nonye Soludo, has urged households, schools and caretakers of public places to stay cautious and immediately apply preventive routines to check the escalation of the disease.
Mrs Soludo made the call in a statement she released in Awka on Monday, noting that with Anambra State among the 31 states reported to be dealing with the current outbreak, it is essential to begin to apply stringent preventive measures to avoid the fast spread of the water-borne disease.
She stressed that attention should be on protecting children and pregnant women, and appealed to households, schools and public environments to monitor the drinking water available to people and ensure that it is safe and healthy.
Mrs Soludo, who is also the founder of the non-governmental crusade, Healthy Living with Nonye Soludo Initiative, highlighted the basic cholera preventive steps to include washing of hands with soap and water frequently, drinking only safe water, bottled water or well boiled water and also brushing with clean and safe water.
She listed others to include cooking foods well, avoiding some street vendor food if possible, and washing fruits well with clean water before consumption.
Meanwhile, the Federal Government has urged states and local governments to scale up environmental health surveillance in places where food and drinks are sold nationwide.
These places include markets, garages, schools, restaurants, stadia, religious and sporting events venues.
Dr Iziaq Salako, Minister of State for Environment, gave the directive in a statement on Monday in Abuja.
Salako emphasised that the measures would help avert further spread and transmission of cholera, as well as aid in the prevention and control of the disease.
He also urged all Commissioners for Environment and the local government chairpersons to support environmental health officers across the country to step up sanitation and hygiene activities through enhanced community-led total sanitation.
The minister said that arrangements had been made to support most affected states with chlorine solution or tablets, water and food testing resources to avert further transmission across the country.
He identified the most affected states contributing 90 percent of the total cases to include Bayelsa, Lagos, Zamfara, Abia, Bauchi, Cross River, Ebonyi, Delta and Katsina
The minister urged the populace to be more vigilant and to imbibe good sanitation and hygiene practices at home and in their workplace.
He further tasked all and sundry on preventive measures such as keeping their environment clean always and disposing of waste properly at designated places.
“Ensure the use of clean and safe water. Water from suspicious sources should be well boiled or treated by adding one pack of chlorine solution to 100 parts.
“Avoid locally prepared drinks like kunu, zobo, fura da nono, koko, fruit juice, among others, except it is certain that the preparation was done in a hygienic and safe manner.
“Wash hands regularly with soap under running water, especially after using the toilet, cleaning a child who has gone to the toilet, before preparing food, before and after eating, and after playing with animals,” he said.
Meanwhile, Plateau State says it has not recorded any case of cholera.
This was disclosed by the Commissioner for Health, Dr Cletus Shurkuk.
Shurkuk, in a statement on Monday, said that in spite of the ongoing outbreak in 30 other states in Nigeria, the state was yet to record any case, as the two suspected cases reported tested negative for cholera.
He however expressed the state’s readiness to tackle the disease should the state record any case.
“The Ministry of Health is prepared to handle potential outbreaks as preventive measures, including water quality monitoring and community education on hygiene practices, are continuously enforced to prevent the spread of waterborne and other priority diseases.
“Our routine health checks and sanitation measures are in place to ensure the safety and well-being of our citizens,” he assured.
Bauchi State government also said the state had not recorded any case of cholera anywhere despite being on the watch list of the NCDC.
Commissioner for Health, Dr Adamu Umar Sambo, said this in a telephone conversation with Nigerian Tribune on Monday.
He said: “I can confidently tell you that we don’t have any reported or confirmed case of cholera in the state since the beginning of 2024.
“The few suspected cases we had turned out not to be cholera. Presently, what we are doing is just to continue to put control measures on ground and educate the people about personal hygiene, environmental sanitation, water hygiene and other health issues.”
Commissioner for Health in Gombe State, Dr Habu Dahiru, said the state had also not recorded any case of the infection.
He disclosed this while speaking with the Nigerian Tribune on telephone, adding that what the state has are a few cases of gastroenteritis.
“There are a few cases of gastroenteritis, but no laboratory confirmed case of cholera yet. Active surveillance in ongoing on in all the 114 wards.
“We have been proactive about the situation; that is the reason we have not recorded any confirmed case of cholera in the state,” the commissioner said.
He added that in 2022, the state recorded huge cases of cholera which led to deaths “We were so disturbed, we wanted to do cholera vaccination, but we could not get the vaccine. We then resorted to the traditional ways of doing it
“The first thing we did was to establish Cholera Watch Teams after which we activated Cholera Incident Management System to control it. The third thing we did was strengthened collaboration with development partners, World Health Organisation (WHO), United Nations Children Education Fund (UNICEF) and the Centre for Disease Control (CDC).”
“The fourth thing was inter-agency collaboration with Ministries of Water Resources, Environment and GOSEPA responsible for clearing debris, culverts and ensure clean environment,” he said.
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