Epidemiology of Covid-19 Outbreak at Jigawa State, Northwest Nigeria

The novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) caused a global pandemic in December 2019. The epidemiology of the COVID-19 in Jigawa State was described to generate information that guided our planning and response. A descriptive cross-sectional study of COVID-19 was conducted using Jigawa State surveillance data from April 19, 2020, through December 31, 2021 . A real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction-based confirmatory testing for COVID-19 (RT-PCR) was used. Cumulative incidence (CI) and case fatality rate (CFR) were the main outcomes. Frequencies, proportions, mean and standard deviation (SD) of sociodemographic and outcome variables was computed . Of the 522 patients with complete clinical outcome information, 18 (3.45%) of them died. The overall CI and CFR were 7.0 per 100,000 population and 3.4%, respectively. The highest proportion of COVID-19 cases and deaths were recorded in persons aged 10–19 years (25.1%) and 0-9 years (15.8%), respectively, while mean age ± S.D was 31±17years. Males were (70.7%) confirmed cases and CFR was 3.5%. Dutse LGA had the highest CI of 69.9 per 100,000 populations. CFR among Almajiris was 6%. About 96.2% of cases had their data missing on educational status. In conclusion, evidence from this study showed that males; active age group were found to have a high infection and death rates. Surveillance should be intensified at schools and commercial places. Jigawa State Government should promote policies that reduce interaction with confirmed or suspected cases at the state, LGA, and community levels by the use NCDC’s guidelines. Further research should be conducted for better understanding of the disease