According to Saturday PUNCH, renowned virologists on Friday revealed that the change in weather was largely responsible for the surge in COVID-19 cases reported in the country.

The virologists, who spoke in separate interviews with our correspondents, also urged Nigerians to engage the monitoring of trends as the country might gradually slip into the fourth wave in days to come.

Speaking with our correspondents in Abuja, a professor of Medical Virology at the University of Maiduguri, Marycelin Baba, said that the season aided virus and it was possible the country was gradually slipping into another wave.

She said, “Please bear in mind that this season promotes COVID-19 especially winter in the western world. This is why there is a surge in cases. We should get vaccinated and adhere to public health protocols in the days to come. This holiday period, we should endeavour to remain cautious”.

Agreeing with Baba, associate professor of Virology at the Osun State University, Dr Waheed Sule, said, “With the temperature this time, there would be an upsurge and coupled with our attitude to non-pharmaceutical measures, cases could increase.

“We cannot call it any wave now. Let us observe and see the cases that will be recorded in the next two or three days. If it is going up, then we can say we are slipping into another wave.”

Meanwhile, analysis of the private laboratory test results of inbound passengers to Nigeria has revealed that 308 out of 1,289 samples which tested positive were from the United Kingdom.

Though the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control did not give a time frame, it noted that the result excluded cases that were tested in Lagos laboratories where a larger part of laboratories for passengers are situated.

Out of the 1,289 positive cases discovered from the inbound passengers, the UK accounted for 308 cases, the United States of America accounted for 197 cases, UAE followed closely with 197 cases.

Other countries include Canada with 44 cases, South Africa with 21 cases, Germany with 32 cases, China with 33 cases and Ghana with 39 cases.

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