Malik Yahya/
No fewer than 471 people died in Yobe State in the last three weeks, the state task force on COVID-19 said yesterday.
The Yobe State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Muhammad Lawan Gana, who is also the vice-chairman of the state committee on COVID-19, disclosed that most of those that died were elderly.
According to the commissioner, the total of 471 was put together between the last week of April and the second week of May.
He said the casualties were recorded in Potiskum, which is the business capital of Yobe State, Nguru, Gashu’a and Damaturu the state capital.
Though some locals and medical experts believe that most of the deaths being recorded in the northwest and northeast over the past weeks could be attributed to the ravaging COVID-19, government officials have insisted that the development was due to other factors such as malaria, heatwave and hypertension.
Media reports reveal that between the second week of April and early May, over 200 people died in Kano State, over 100 in Hadejia local government area of Jigawa State and over 150 in Bauchi State.
Also, the response team constituted by Governor Mai Mala Buni to investigate the causes of the mysterious death said yesterday that over 90 percent of the fatalities reported in the state recently had no multiple symptoms with the case definition of COVID-19.
While unveiling the preliminary findings of the verbal autopsy conducted by the committee at a media briefing in Damaturu, the health commissioner said they conducted their investigations in four frontline local government areas that recorded high numbers.
He said “57 percent of the total deaths had an underlying chronic illness, which include fever, hypertension, diabetes, renal disease, maternal mortality and accident victims”, adding that their ages start from 50 years and the majority of them were males.
“Sixteen of the 471 deceased relatives revealed someone with similar symptoms, and all were investigated and referred to a facility, while three out of the 16 met case definition of COVID-19,” he said.
The commissioner further explained that contacts were traced and placed on self -isolation while their sample were taken and their results are currently being awaited.
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