The reports of suspicious deaths in Kano State is fueling a national hysteria that our worst fears about the Coronavirus pandemic is coming true and the federal government cannot no longer afford to ignore the issue. A full-scale investigation is now required to determine the cause(s) of these deaths.
Reports say that at least 23 high-profile deaths have occurred in a few days due to reasons yet to be ascertained. The State Government has instituted an investigation to determine the causes of these and other recent deaths. The Ministry of Health is conducting the investigation. We think this is not enough, a high-level investigation involving the Federal Ministry of Health, National Center for Disease Control (NCDC) and health experts.
Reports say one of the high-profile deaths includes that of Ibrahim Ayagi, Kano-based professor of economics, a former head of Nigerian Economic Intelligence Bureau, and until his death was the chief executive officer of Hassan Gwarzo Group of Schools. Ayagi was aged 80 years. Other notable deaths in the state are of the former Grand Kadi of Kano, Dahiru Khadi, Musa Umar Gwarzo, as well as Musa Tijjani, editor of the state-owned Triumph Newspaper.
But these are individuals whose names seemingly carry weight in the state but it helps to imagine that the many deaths that may have gone unreported. If the deaths are indeed linked to COVID-19, it assumes a more frightening dimension. In Italy, it started with a few cases and soon snowballed into a national pain. It asks questions of Nigeria’s preparedness to contain the pandemic.
Nigeria’s testing figures are so abysmal that it pales into insignificance when compared to smaller African countries. For example, Ghana has been able to test over 50,000 people and South Africa has already tested over 150,000 people but Africa’s most populous country has only tested about 10,000 people.
A few days ago, there was outcry on social media that the Nigerian Center for Disease Control (NCDC) has failed Kano as these deaths occurring at alarming frequency followed by inaction from the government is to say the least frightening.
Some say that the NCDC officials in the city are not responding to people’s distress calls because they lack manpower and adequate facilities. There is a national shortage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) which has led to reliance on donation from China and other countries. There is also limited reach for the coronavirus communication meant to sensitise the people in a state where the literacy rate is under 50 percent.
Without official investigation and determination of facts, there is no factual basis to link them to COVID-19 but the frequency and the period they occur points suspicion at the pandemic which has so far killed over 160,000 people worldwide and sickened over 2 million people.
Medical experts have cited several other reasons for the high wave of deaths being recorded in the state, which they believe has to do with the present unfavourable weather condition being experienced in the state. Prior to suspending COVID-19 tests, the state had confirmed 73 patients cases with the novel coronavirus disease.
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