By Sadiu Suleman Abuja,
Dr Osagie Ehanire, Minister of Health, disclosed on Monday that investigations into strange deaths in Kano State in April showed around 50 and 60 per cent of the 979 deaths in the state were caused by COVID-19.
He revealed that verbal autopsy and records from graveyards revealed that some of the deaths was caused by an unknown illness and others by COVID-19.
He said “With regard to unexplained deaths in Kano, which occurred in April, the team confirmed from graveyard records, that a total of 979 deaths were recorded in eight municipal LGAs in the state at a rate of 43 deaths per day, with a peak in the second week of April.
“By the beginning of May, the death rate had reduced to the 11 deaths per day it used to be. The verbal autopsy revealed that about 56 per cent of deaths had occurred at home while 38 per cent were in hospitals.
“With circumstantial evidence as all to go by, investigation suggests that between 50 and 60 per cent of the deaths may have been triggered by or due to COVID-19, in the face of preexisting ailments. Most fatalities were over 65 years of age.”
Also the Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, also stated that the south east regions were not conducting enough cases reasons why the low number of confirmed cases.
He said, “We were in a way surprised and not too surprised because we know that the testing numbers in the South-East have been low and this has been an advocacy point for me.
“We have reached out to all the states in the South-East. We know the people in the South-East travel a lot and there is no reason why there won’t be more cases there given the tendency to travel.”
He noted, “From the very beginning, we were always worried about the insufficient data coming out from the South-East. Initially, it was thought to be about testing, but we have improved access to testing capacity now.
“Yes, we have seen the number of cases being reported from Abia; I think that’s a good thing because the more you identify the number of cases, you are then able to institute and prioritise the measures you need to prevent further cases.
“You are able to exclude them from the rest of society, make sure they don’t transmit to others.”
As of Sunday night, the six states in the South-West had recorded a total of 6,607 cases; South-East, 315 cases; South-South, 956 cases; North-West, 2,267 cases; North- East, 976 cases and North-Central, 422 cases.
And according to the last released test figures on the NDDC’s website, South-West had conducted 30,056 tests; South-East, 1,723; South-South, 4,992 tests; North -West, 12,797 tests; North-East, 6,509 tests and North Central, 4,156.