Epidemiology of Covid-19 in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nigeria, 2020

Abstract:

Background: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a global pandemic. COVID-19 epidemiology varies from one area to another. Appreciation of local COVID-19 epidemiology allows for better understanding of its distribution, description, transmission and risk patterns, clinical course, and management. In addition, through better understanding of COVID-19 epidemiology, socio-cultural factors that exacerbate the disease are revealed, hence control measures can be identified. Objective: The objective of this study is to determine the epidemiological characteristics and transmission patterns of COVID-19 cases in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, Nigeria. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the COVID-19 database in the Public Health Department of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja from the confirmation of initial case on March 20th, 2020 to June 30th, 2020. We evaluated the performance of COVID-19 surveillance, determined the epidemiological characteristics of confirmed COVID-19 cases, the transmissibility of the disease, and identified groups of people at higher risk of contracting the disease and those at higher risk of dying from the disease. Results: A total of 1,870 confirmed COVID-19 cases were reported during the study period. Of these confirmed cases, a total of 1,198(64%) were males. The number of deaths among confirmed cases was 33 (CFR, 1.8%). The male to female ratio of the confirmed cases was 3:1 and the most (56%) affected age group was 20-40 years with mean age of 36 years (range: 6 months to 87 years). The number of COVID-19 cases among health workers was 158. The number of contacts line listed was 3,358 out of which 3,266(97%) were followed up and 92(3%) were lost to follow up. The case to contact ratio was 1.8 and the number of contacts that were positive for COVID-19 was 85(2.6%). The basic reproductive number (R) based on the SEIR model ranged from 1.1-1.4 Conclusion: There was intense transmission of COVID-19 in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja during the study period. The surveillance for COVID-19 should extend to other area councils apart from the Municipal council. Timely detection, reporting, isolation and management of confirmed cases as well as contact tracing and monitoring are essential to curbing the spread of COVID-19.