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Coronavirus: Nigerian Government Explains Increase In Number Of Deaths

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The federal government of Nigeria has explained why there has been a noticeable spike in the number of persons dying in the country in recent times.

The government noted that the fear by many people to visit hospitals coupled with that of health workers refusing to attend to patients for fear of contracting the virus might be the reason.

The government, however, added that not all deaths are COVID-19 related as some are routine cases.

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This was disclosed on Friday by the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire during the daily briefing by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19.

“As a result of that, we do worry that some deaths may have occurred not directly in connection with the coronavirus. If a person couldn’t go to get help in a hospital because of the fear of coronavirus or doctors refusing to attend to such persons,” he stated.

The Minister further explained that the latest statistics from the National Health Management Information System (NHMIS) shows that Out-Patient visit dropped from 4 million to about 2 million, Antenatal visits from 1.3 million to 655 thousand, Skilled Birth attendance from 158,374 to less than 99,000, while immunization services also dropped by half.

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“All these have as yet undetermined consequences, which the easing of the lockdown should hopefully address. However, the downside of easing the restrictions needs to be balanced with a collective determination by all of us, not only to comply with protective and prophylactic advisories, but to encourage relatives, friends, neighbours and customers to do same,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, (NCDC) on Friday evening, confirmed two hundred and eighty-eight new cases of Coronavirus in Nigeria.

This brings the total number of COVID-19 cases in Nigeria to 5,445 including 1,320 discharged persons and 171 deaths.

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