The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control on Friday said the number of confirmed cases of Lassa fever in the country has increased to 973 in the 15th week of 2020 from the 963 cases recorded in the 14th week.

 It said the 10 new cases were reported from Edo, Ondo, Kogi, Nasarawa, and Plateau states.

 The center made the disclosure in its latest situation report (Week 15) on the disease published on Friday.

The breakdown of the disease’s confirmed cases showed that while 27 states had recorded at least one confirmed case each, Edo, Ondo and Ebonyi alone accounted for 73 percent of the confirmed cases.

 About 127 local government areas also have at least one confirmed case each.

 There is however no record of death in Week 15, leaving the death toll at 188 for this year.

 The report read, “In Week 15, the number of new confirmed cases decreased from 12 cases in Week 14, 2020 to 10 cases. These were reported from five states (Edo, Ondo, Kogi, Nasarawa and Plateau).

“Cumulatively from Week 1 to Week 15, 2020, 188 deaths have been reported with a case fatality rate of 19.3 percent, which is lower than the CFR for the same period in 2019 (22.6 percent).