The total number of confirmed cases of monkeypox in Nigeria has reached an all-time high of 101 as of July 10, 2022.
This surpasses the peak number of cases seen in 2017 when the disease resurfaced in the country.
Observations of the data available on the website of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) showed that in 2017, the country recorded 88 confirmed cases, while for the years 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021, a total of 49, 47, eight and 34 confirmed cases of monkeypox were recorded.
This brings the total number of confirmed cases of monkeypox to date to 327.
More worrisome is the fact that even though the third quarter has just begun, the total number of confirmed cases of the disease (101) recorded represents approximately 31 percent of the total figure recorded in the last five years.
According to the NCDC, from January to July 10, 2022, 101 monkeypox cases were reported from 23 states. Also, 17 new cases were recorded in one week (from July 4 to 10) from 12 states: Ondo (three), Adamawa (two), Bayelsa (two), Delta (two), Anambra (one), Borno (one), Edo (one), Gombe (one), Katsina (one), Kogi (one), Plateau (one) and Lagos (one).
Sadly, three deaths were recorded in three states: Delta (one), Lagos (one), and Ondo (one) since the beginning of the year.
