“Emergency phase” of Lassa fever outbreak over

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) says the “emergency phase” of ongoing Lassa fever outbreak is over.

It comes after the number of confirmed cases dipped below a threshold to be considered an emergency.

NCDC declared the outbreak on January 24 and activated a national emergency operations centre to ease logistics after the number of Lassa fever cases exceeded the threshold.

Since January, 979 cases have confirmed positive for Lassa fever, and 188 people have been killed across 27 states by the second week of April.

“The Lassa fever case count has significantly declined in the last three weeks and has now dropped below levels considered to be a national emergency,” the Centre said.