DAILY RENDEZVOUS

Daily Rendezvous 20 January 2023 |  Diphtheria Public Health Advisory Amidst Outbreak in Nigeria     The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has responded to reports of diphtheria cases in Lagos and Kano States and is monitoring the situation in Osun and Yobe States where cases are now being picked up. In addition to clinically suspected cases, there have been laboratoryconfirmed cases and the NCDC is working with State Ministries of Health and partners to enhance surveillance and response to the outbreak. This includes keeping the public informed on staying safe at home and in their communities.    ABOUT DIPHTHERIA  What is Diphtheria?  Diphtheria is a serious bacterial infection caused by the bacterium called Corynebacterium species that affects the nose, throat and sometimes, skin of an individual.    Who is at risk?  People most at risk of contracting diphtheria:  • Children and adults who have n...

  Daily Rendezvous Update on COVID-19 Genomic Surveillance in view of the Rising Cases of COVID-19 in Hotspot Countries. The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) is the national public health institute with  the mandate to lead the preparedness, detection, and response to public health emergencies. Consequently,  we continue to monitor global COVID-19 epidemiology including genomics data as part of the ongoing pandemic response. The NCDC-led COVID-19 Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) is monitoring COVID-19 trends in  China, the United States of America (USA), the United Kingdom (UK), South Africa, India, and other  countries with a high volume of traffic to and from Nigeria. This includes the resurgence of COVID-19 in China following the relaxation of the country’s zero-COVID policy, as well as significantly increased  COVID-19 cases, admissions, and deaths in the UK and the USA over the past weeks driven in part by the ...

Daily Rendezvous Public Health Advisory following declaration of Ebola Virus Disease Outbreak in Uganda  The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has been aware of the ongoing outbreak of the Sudan strain Ebola virus disease (EVD) in Uganda since it was first officially declared on 20th September 2022. As of 29th October 2022, the Uganda Ministry of Health had reported 128 confirmed cases and 34 deaths.    The NCDC, through the National Emerging Viral Haemorrhagic Disease Technical Working Group, met on the 26th of September 2022 to assess the risk of importation of EVD to Nigeria and the potential impact to inform in-country preparedness activities. Based on available data and risk assessment conducted, Nigeria is at HIGH risk of importation of the virus. This risk is due to the large volume of air travel between Nigeria and Uganda and the mixing of passengers, especially at the regional travel hubs of Nairobi, Addis Ababa, and Kigali airp...

Daily Rendezvous The NCDC has confirmed that about 80 persons of the 434 confirmed cases of Lassa Fever in Nigeria have died. This means that the homorrhaging disease has about 18% mortality rate. NCDC says, since January 2021, a total of 434 confirmed cases with 80 deaths have been reported from seventeen (17) States and sixty-three (63) Local Government Areas (LGAs) in Nigeria. This contained in a press statement issued by the NCDC and made available to Newsmen, Wednesday. The NCDC says it has intensified activities for Lassa fever surveillance and response following outbreaks of cases in Nigeria. The Center for Disease Control called on Nigerians to maintain a high level of environmental sanitation, dispose waste properly and to keep food stuffs like rice, beans, garri, maize, corn/maize, etc in a tigtly closed containers.   The statement reads, "On the 8th of December 2021, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) was notified of the death of two p...

Daily Rendezvous The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has confirmed three (3) more cases of COVID-19 with the B.1.1.529 SARS-CoV-2 lineage, i.e., the Omicron variant, in Nigeria. In addition to the three cases announced earlier on 1st December 2021, this brings the total number of confirmed cases of the Omicron variant detected in Nigeria to six (6).  All the Omicron cases so far were detected in persons with recent travel history to South Africa in November.   The NCDC through the National Reference Laboratory (NRL) continues to coordinate genomic surveillance activities across the country to sequence all positive COVID-19 samples from international travellers arriving in Nigeria. This includes sequencing of positive samples from international travellers from October 2021 to date.  The Delta variant remains the dominant variant and so far, we have not seen the replacement of this variant by the new Omicron variant as observed elsewhe...

Daily Rendezvous Canada, Tuesday, banned travellers from Nigeria, Egypt, and Malawi over fears of the spread of the new Omicron coronavirus variant, bringing to 10 the number of African countries targeted by Ottawa, according to AFP. “Foreign nationals who have transited or stayed in these 10 countries cannot enter Canada if they have been in those countries in the last two weeks,” Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said at a press conference. He also said all air travelers arriving from outside Canada, apart from the United States, would now need to be tested for Covid-19 at their point of entry, “Whether they are vaccinated or unvaccinated,” and that those travelers will need to isolate until their test results are available. First reported to the World Health Organization less than a week ago after being detected in southern Africa earlier in November, the Omicron variant has already appeared in several countries, stoking global fears about a coronavirus pandemic that has ...