Yellow Fever Claims 172 Lives In Nigeria: WHO

Geneva, Dec 4 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 4th Dec, 2020 ) :A yellow fever outbreak in Nigeria has killed 172 people so far, the World Health Organization said Friday.

The outbreak poses an extra challenge to the country's health system as Africa's most populous nation deals with the Covid-19 pandemic, several concurrent disease outbreaks and a humanitarian crisis in the northeast, the WHO said.

Nigeria has been battling successive yellow fever outbreaks since 2017. This latest outbreak was detected in November, WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told reporters in Geneva.

"As of November 24, the outbreak has been reported in five states in Nigeria: Delta, Enugu, Bauchi, Benue and Ebonyi," he said.

"A total of 530 suspected cases have been reported, including 48 that have been confirmed by lab testing.

"A total of 172 deaths have been reported out of those 530 suspected cases."He said sample testing was ongoing through national reference laboratories.