Provision and Utilization of COVID-19-related Services in Rivers State during the Pandemic

Background: The COVID-19 outbreak which started in China became a pandemic. Rivers State recorded its first case in March 2020 and its first fatality case in April 2020. This research provides a preliminary epidemiological study of the COVID-19 outbreak in Rivers State.

Methodology: Secondary data was retrieved from the Rivers State Ministry of Health and analyzed using IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25. Frequencies were generated and reported as tables.

Results: Of the 7038 retrieved data, 6299 were used for this study. Males were three times more infected than females. 32.7% of those infected were in the fourth decade of life. One-fifth had no formal education and half had post-secondary education. 17.4% of those infected had a positive history of travel and 1% attended burial before the onset of infection. 58.8% of those infected were diagnosed at home and only 22.1% were admitted at the COVID-19 centers. The mortality rate was 1.4%. About two-thirds of those infected were in Port Harcourt Local Government Area with almost one-third in Obio/Akpor. Four out of every five people that were confirmed presented with symptoms that ranged from fever, cough, loss of smell, and chest pain among others.

Conclusion: About 10% of the data collected during the COVID-19 pandemic in Rivers State between April 2020 and March 2021 was missing. Poor and incomplete data collection can lead to a loss of revenue and inaccurate decision-making so there is a need to put in place effective data collection tools and procedures.