‘Suspicious’ FG investigating strange deaths in Kano

The Federal Government has said it is investigating the reported strange deaths in Kano State which had been linked with COVID-19.

The National Coordinator of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, Dr. Sani Aliyu, said this on Thursday in Abuja at the 18th joint national briefing of the committee.

This is as he said the PTF had deployed 17 personnel to Kano to tackle the rising situation in the state.

It was learnt that over 150 people, who reportedly died in Kano between Friday and Saturday last week, have been buried in three cemeteries.

This heightened fears that the deceased must have died as a result of a strange ailment.

Undertakers, who doubled as grave diggers in the affected cemeteries, said the frequency at which they received corpses these days was unusual when compared with the number of people they buried before the coronavirus outbreak.

The figure of the dead buried in the three cemeteries excludes other people buried in dozens of burial grounds in the eight local government areas that constitute Kano metropolis, though those working in such cemeteries said they did not notice anything unusual.

“The task force, in conjunction with the Kano State government, had commenced investigation into the recent strange deaths that were recently recorded in Kano.

“In addition to this, the DG NCDC has asked the state emergency operating centre to reorganise the way it functions and a joint team from the state government is currently investigating the concerns with regards to the deaths,” Aliyu said.

He said the PTF had organised and sent additional laboratory equipment to Kano to strengthen the response efforts, but noted that the laboratory in the state had been shut down for the time being, for the period that the ongoing fumigation and disinfection would last.

The National Coordinator of the PTF said: “The Honourable Minister [of health] and the DG of the NCDC have already spoken about additional support to Kano. The PTF has directed and in line with the directive, the NCDC has already redeployed at least, 17 persons, including seven from the WHO to Kano to deal with current issues that have arisen.”

He noted that there were low output of cases in some states which he attributed to the lack of effective testing in the communities in such states.

He, therefore, charged the state emergency operating centres to immediately commence active search for case in the communities, stressing that it was the only way the chain of spread of the disease across the country could be broken.

“It is extremely important that we continue to measure and stop community spread, we cannot do that without the cooperation of the public.

“We continue to call on the public to please restrict and stay where they are and it is important. It’s a temporary sacrifice for the long term benefit of all of us”, Aliyu said.

He also commended the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) for the decision to block inter-state movement for 14 days, noting this was necessary if Nigeria would halt inter-state spread of COVID-19.

He added: “PTF continues to engage very closely with the state governments, we are particularly pleased to note the decision by the Nigerian Governors’ Forum to restrict inter-states travel. This is really important when it comes to reducing the risks of inter-state spread and transmission of the virus.”

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