At least 12 people have died from Lassa fever in Ondo State, with 112 confirmed cases out of 353 reported infections, the state government has revealed.
The Acting Statistician-General of Ondo State, Olusola Ajayi, disclosed this on Tuesday in Akure while speaking to workers of the Ondo State Waste Management Authority. He called for urgent action to curb the spread of the disease.
“We are all in this together, and we must act fast. As of today, Ondo State has recorded 353 cases of Lassa fever, with 112 confirmed cases and 12 deaths. If we want to take action, the time is now,” Ajayi said.
Ajayi urged the waste management agency to work closely with health stakeholders to maintain a cleaner environment, which will help control the spread of the disease.
Similarly, the Permanent Secretary of the state Ministry of Health, Dr. Adeniran Ikuomola, confirmed that the state had recorded close to 400 suspected cases since the latest outbreak.
Speaking in Akure during the launch of a new Lassa fever diagnostic centre, Ikuomola said the Federal Government, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, and the Institute of Human Virology Nigeria had provided the facility to boost detection and treatment efforts.
“We have inspected the equipment provided by the Federal Ministry of Health, through NCDC and facilitated by IHVN. With this, we expect to improve case detection and management significantly,” Ikuomola stated.
He assured that the state government was working round the clock to make the laboratory fully functional and to strengthen collaboration with relevant agencies to reduce fatalities.
“While there have been fatalities, the state government is making efforts to reduce deaths from Lassa fever,” he added.
