The number of deaths recorded as a result of Lassa fever outbreak in Nigeria has risen to 110.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, made this known its latest report issued on Tuesday.
According to the report, 1121 suspected cases have been reported from the beginning of the year to March 4.
Of the cases, 353 were confirmed positive, eight not certain, 723 found to be negative while 37 were awaiting laboratory results.
The centre said the outbreak of the disease had been active in 18 states.
Read also: U.S. announces $533m for Nigeria, others
The states are Edo, Ondo, Bauchi, Nasarawa, Ebonyi, Anambra, Benue, Kogi, Imo, Plateau, Lagos, Taraba, Delta, Osun, Rivers, FCT, Gombe and Ekiti.
The report said, “Since the onset of the 2018 outbreak, there have been 110 deaths: 78 in positive-confirmed cases, 8 in probable cases and 24 in negative cases.”
The centre also disclosed that 35 new cases of the virus were confirmed in five states of the federation from February 26 to March 4.
The affected states are Edo with 19 cases; Ondo, five; Bauchi, one; Ebonyi, nine, and Plateau, one.
From the new cases, two people died in Edo State, three in Ebonyi, and another two in Ondo State.
The centre pointed out that the death rate in the confirmed and probable cases is 23.8 per cent while ages predominantly affected are between 21 and 40 years.
85% percent of all confirmed cases, according to the report, are from three states.
Edo has 44 per cent, Ondo 25, and Ebonyi, 16.