The Federal Government has said that 50-60 percent of the strange deaths recorded in Kano in April was as a result of COVID-19 complications.
Dr. Osagie Ehanire, the Minister of Health, made this known on Monday in Abuja at the 41st joint national briefing of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19.
He noted that the PTF had deployed a team to Kano to support the state committee in upscaling its response to COVID-19, on May 3. The minister noted that the team’s findings revealed that Coronavirus was responsible for the mass deaths recorded in the state.
According to the minister, most fatalities recorded in the Northern state were over 65 years of age, adding that 979 persons died of COVID-19 in the state.
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 8 municipal LGA 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 percent of deaths had occurred at home while 38 percent were in hospitals.
“With circumstantial evidence as all to go by, investigation suggests that between 50-60 percent of the deaths may have been triggered by or due to COVID-19, in the face of pre-existing ailments.
“Most fatalities were over 65 years of age.”
