The month of March witnessed a drop in the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases by 69.8%. Within the first quarter of the year, 75,212 confirmed cases were reported.
The number of confirmed cases declined gradually through the first quarter. February recorded a 44.53% decline while it was 69.8% in March.
In the first quarter of this year, the total number of confirmed cases in the country stood at 75,212. A total of 43,673 and 24,224 were reported in January and February, respectively. While 7,315 cases were recorded in March, the lowest since the beginning of the year.
Source: NCDC
Confirmed cases rise in 3 states
A review of month-to-month cases for 33 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) showed a downward trend. However, the number of confirmed cases in Adamawa in March more than doubled the previous month, jumping from 131 confirmed cases in February to 289 in March. It was the same for Bauchi and Yobe states.
| State | January | February | March |
| Adamawa | 217 | 131 | 289 |
| Bauchi | 131 | 82 | 305 |
| Yobe | 54 | 27 | 45 |
Source: NCDC
Although the number of cases declined in March compared to the previous month, Lagos, Kaduna, Rivers, FCT, Edo and Bauchi had the highest reported cases, with Lagos topping the list with 1,952 cases.
Source: NCDC
Aside from the above-mentioned states, every other state recorded less than 300 cases in March with only 5 reported cases in Sokoto, the lowest number for the month. Benue on the other hand recorded zero cases in March.
The same downward trend was also noted in the number of death cases in the three months save for February. The death figure for January was 297 but increased to 321 in February. The number however dropped to 150 in March, indicating a 53% decrease.
Source: NCDC
While the downward trend depicts hope, the number of clients vaccinated so far is less than 1.2 million as of April 22, 2021.
According to the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), only 1,148,168 eligible people have been vaccinated so far with the first dose of the vaccine, covering 57.1% of the targeted population to receive the first batch of the vaccine.
Data revealed that 223,159 people have received the vaccine in Lagos State, the epicentre of the novel virus; making it the state with the highest number of vaccinated people. Kano state followed with 59,374; Kaduna 58,809; FCT 54,298; Ogun 53,355; Oyo 41,171; Katsina 39,693; Bauchi 36,535; and Ondo 31,592.
At the time of this report, data published by the NPHCDA showed that Taraba state has the least number of people who have received the vaccine (9,471) followed by Ebonyi with 9,741.