COVID-19 cases rise in Nigeria as 60 Ukraine returnees test positive

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) says 60 Nigerians evacuated from Ukraine have tested positive for COVID-19.

On February 24, troops invaded Ukraine after Vladimir Putin, president of Russia, ordered a special military operation in Donbas, a separatist-held region in Ukraine.

Since the invasion, there have been reported casualties from both countries, leading many residents of Ukraine, including Nigerians, to flee to neighbouring countries.

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The Nigerian government had subsequently begun the evacuation of citizens with more than 1000 persons brought back to Nigeria over the past few days.

In its COVID-19 update for Tuesday, the agency disclosed that Nigerian returnees from Ukraine accounted for a total of 60 out of the backlog of 68 cases reported from the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) for March 7, 2022.

“68 cases reported for FCT for 7th March 2022; 60 of the cases are returnees from Ukraine,” the report reads.

Apart from FCT, the disease control centre noted that Lagos State, the epicentre of the disease in Nigeria, reported a backlog of 49 cases for March 5 to 7, 2022, while Rivers State in the South-south recorded a single case on Tuesday.

With no fatality recorded, the latest update shows that the death toll still stands at 3,142, while the infection toll has increased to 254,777.

NCDC noted that a total of 249,209 persons have now been discharged nationwide, including community discharges, while there are still 2,311 active cases as of March 7, 2022.