No conclusions yet on ‘strange’ deaths in Kano State —Nigerian govt

The Federal Government of Nigeria has stated that there was no conclusions yet with regard to the ‘strange’ deaths recorded in Kano State in recent times.

This was revealed on Thursday in Abuja by the Minister for Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, during the daily briefing of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking further at the daily briefing of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on the COVID-19, Dr. Ehanire said that the unexplained deaths did not only occur in Kano but in eight states of the federation.

He said, “Investigations were still ongoing in the matter.”

Dr. Ehanire also encouraged those who claimed to have solutions to the COVID-19 pandemic to go ahead with research on them stating further that the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) is there for all researchers to approach.

He added: “Nobody needs to give you permission to approach NAFDAC.

“The latest statistics from the National Health Management Information System indicate that out-patient visits dropped from four million to about two million and antenatal visits from 1.3 million to 655,000.

READ ALSO: LOCKDOWN RELAXATION: You don’t know Kano, Ganduje hits back at critics

“Others include skilled birth attendance, from 158,374 to less than 99,000, while immunisation services reduced by about half.

“All these failings have yet undetermined consequences, which the easing of the lockdown should hopefully address.

“However, the suspected downside of easing restrictions has to be balanced off by citizens, with collective determination by all of us, not only to comply with protective and prophylactic advisories but to encourage relatives, friends neighbours and customers to do the same,” Dr. Ehanire said.

This came days after Kano State Governor Abdullahi Ganduje extended the lockdown in the state over COVID-19 by another one week.

President Muhammadu Buhari had recently imposed two weeks total lockdown on Kano State following an upsurge of COVID-19 cases in the state.

The two weeks was to expire Monday night, however, Kano State Commissioner for Information, Malam Muhammad Garba, Tuesday morning told newsmen that the lockdown had been extended by one week.

He said that the decision was reached after the state duly consulted with the Federal Government and key stakeholders in the health sector.

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