Local media outlets in Kano, Nigeria's second most populous state, were the first to raise the alarm in late April when the number of burials increased. It took several days of investigation to the health authorities to announce, Sunday, May 3, the cause of this excess mortality: the new coronavirus.
"According to the initial results of the investigation, most of the deaths recorded recently are due to the coronavirus," said Nasiru Sani Gwarzo, head of the specialized medical team Covid-19 for Kano.
"Although the deaths were initially attributed to other diseases, we can now say that the main cause of the explosion in Kano is due to the coronavirus," he said, but did not give exact figures. .
UPDATE:
The Presidential Technical Team deployed to Kano to support the state committee in upscaling its response to COVID-19, on Sunday, said coronavirus is responsible for the mass deaths recorded in Kano State. pic.twitter.com/PcUPC7d0NU
The final results of the investigation are not yet ready, but the governor of the state of Kano, Abdullahi Ganduje has already warned the 12 million inhabitants of the state that "Kano has serious problems".
"We started this crisis on the wrong foot," he added, referring to the closure of the specialized laboratory, which was closed for several days last week after the contamination of one of the employees.
In late April, local media reported a huge increase in the number of burials in the 68 cemeteries in Kano.
An employee of a cemetery in this large Muslim city told AFP to bury "sometimes dozens of bodies a day".
Friday, in an interview with AFP, the director of the "task force Covid 19" had described the deaths as "collateral damage from war", attributing the deaths to other diseases such as malaria, hypertension or typhoid when pharmacies and most hospitals in the city closed.
Very low screening capacities
But faced with a sharp increase in deaths, in particular of high ranking personalities (university professors, traditional chiefs ...), the authorities carried out an investigation into these "mysterious deaths" and carried out "verbal autopsies", in questioning the families of the deceased.
On Sunday, one of the state's five traditional emirs, Tafida Abubakar Ila II, one of the region's greatest traditional figures, died in hospital, showing symptoms associated with Covid-19.
Officially, the number of people infected in the city barely exceeds 300, and three deaths directly linked to the new coronavirus have been recorded.
Nevertheless, screening capacities are very weak with only 88 tests carried out per day according to Nasiru Sani Gwarzo, who promises that they should rise to 300 by the weekend: a figure still very low in one more State of 10 million inhabitants.
The Nigerian federal government has decided to proceed to a gradual deconfinement in the rest of the country, but to keep it strict in Kano.
But in this very conservative and very poor Muslim city, Governor Ganduje however decided to ease the confinement a few days a week, despite the health situation.
On Monday, residents of Kano flocked to the markets en masse to buy food during this Ramadan period.
Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa with nearly 200 million inhabitants, Monday recorded nearly 2,500 officially declared cases of coronavirus infection, and 87 deaths.
With AFP
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