Panic in Kano State as Over 190 Persons Died in 4 Days

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There has been pandemonium among Kano residents following an unusual increase in the number of deaths in the state.

The toll from the mysterious deaths that have hit Kano State has continued to rise. According to reports, no fewer than 190 people had been buried within four days in Kano and the cause of these deaths are not known.

The state imposed a lockdown shortly after recording its first COVID-19 case last week. According to Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), at the moment, Kano has a total number of 73 confirmed cases of COVID-19.

Although there are insinuations that the mysterious deaths in the state may be linked to the deadly COVID-19, but no confirmation yet from the NCDC.

Undertakers who double as grave diggers in certain cemeteries in Kano state said the frequency at which they receive corpses within few days is unusual when compared to the number of people they buried before the Coronavirus outbreak.

Areas where increase in deaths have been reported are: Zage, Kano Municipal, Tarauni, Gwale, Kurna, Dala, Chiromawa, Zango, Kofar Mata, Fagge, Kumbotso, and some local government areas outside the metropolitan like Bichi, Kunchi, Wudil, Gwarzo, and Shanono.

Adamu Umar, a cemetery guard at Farm centre, according to his post on Twitter, said he buried over 17 people on Sunday alone, adding that the situation is scary, as it is unusual since he began working there in the last four years.

Bashir Mohammed, one of the undertakers at the Dandolo Cemetery in Goron Dutse, Dala Local Government Area of Kano State, said,“This is worrisome, we are becoming overwhelmed by what we are seeing here these days because to me, the way people are dying is not ordinary.”

Mohammed popularly known as Mai Sana’a, said between Saturday and Sunday, over thirty people were buried in the cemetery in contrast to maximum daily record of ten burials previously.

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.

Also, authorities in Kano, community leaders, families of the deceased and medical officials have given different opinions on the matter with the state ministry of health saying it was investigating the matter.

Tijjani Hussaini, the state’s executive secretary of the primary healthcare board, said they were yet to ascertain the cause of the said deaths, but that the situation had “sent residents panicking.” According to a man on Twitter.
“The investigation is prompted by reports that more deaths have been recorded in the past seven days. We want to know the number of persons already dead. We also want to investigate how they died,” he said.

“It is when we have a good idea; it is when we get the outcome of the findings that we can properly draw conclusions and brief the public.”

Mustapha Hikima, the chief medical director of Nassarawa Hospital, said the areas where deaths have been recorded are densely populated which makes the number insignificant.

“We don’t have the baseline information, but considering the high population size of Kano, the increase in the deaths is not significant,” he said.

He said the Ministry of Health had conducted a survey between April 13 and 19 to see the pattern of deaths in the state. He added that “after the quick survey, the result had shown that there was no significant increase in the rate of death recorded in the state.”

He continued: “We should also take the time of the occurrence of the deaths into consideration. The time happens occasionally. So it is subjective to judge when a case happens within just three days. To me, this is not a serious problem because it happens sometimes. So I appeal to people to be calm.”

Governor Abdullahi Ganduje has directed thorough investigation to ascertain the cause of strange death.

Reacting to the development, Commissioner for Information, Muhammad Garba, who acknowledged the strange deaths, told journalists that government had swung into action to assess the matter.

Although Garba disagreed that the sudden rise in death cases in Kano was related to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), he noted that Governor Ganduje had directed the state’s ministry of health to investigate it.

A number of Kano residents have taken to Twitter and Instagram to express their fears following the increase in death.