Yobe State has become the first country in Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa to register more than 450 covid19-related deaths, though the government said caused not COVID-19.
Yobe state Commissioner for Health and Vice Chairman of the COVID 19 Committee, Dr. Mohammed Gana, said on Tuesday in Damaturu that 471 deaths in the state could not be traced to coronavirus.
Dr. Mohammed Gana said the report of the investigative response team constituted by the state government has confirmed that 90 per cent of the mass death could not be traced to coronavirus.
He disclosed to journalists that the team has recorded 471 deaths from the last week of April to the second week of May in four affected local council areas, including Potiskum, Nguru, Gashu’a and Damaturu, the state capital.
Gana said: “16 of the 471 deceased relatives revealed that someone with similar symptoms and all 16 were investigated and referred to some facilities. Out of the number, three out of the 16 met case definition of COVID-19.”
He added that “Fifty-seven percent of the total deaths had an underlying chronic illness which included fever, hypertension, diabetes, renal disease maternal mortality and accident victims.”
This report was first published on ThisDay.
