The CovidSurg Collaborative has projected that, based on a 12-week period of peak disruption to hospital services due to COVID-19, it will take 11 months to clear the backlog of surgeries that have been cancelled.

"However, each additional week of disruption will lead to the cancellation of extra 8,705 surgeries, significantly extending the period it will take to clear the backlog."

Professor Ademuyiwa, a Professor of Surgery at the University of Lagos and Consultant Paediatric Surgeon at Lagos University Teaching Hospital, who is also the Director of the National Institute of Health Research Global Surgery Unit in the College of Medicine of the University of Lagos, led this global research in Nigeria.

He said: "The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a huge backlog of cancelled elective surgeries across Nigeria and it estimated that each additional week of cancelled surgery will result in a backlog of over 8,000 surgeries.

A Consultant Surgeon and Senior Lecturer at the NIHR Global Health Research Unit on Global Surgery at the University of Birmingham, Mr. Aneel Bhangu, said: "During the COVID-19 pandemics elective surgeries have been cancelled to reduce the risk of patients being exposed to COVID-19 in hospital, and to support the wider hospital response, for example by converting operating theatres into intensive care units.