Nigeria Kano state's rise in deaths not due to coronavirus -state government

By Garba Muhammad
KANO, Nigeria, April 26 (Reuters) - A sharp rise in deaths
in the Nigerian city of Kano was caused by complications from
other health conditions and not the new coronavirus, the state
government said on Sunday, citing a preliminary assessment,
after a local newspaper reported what it called "mysterious"
recent deaths.
The Daily Trust newspaper reported on Tuesday the recent
deaths of around 150 people in the northern commercial city of
Kano, prompting investigations to determine if they were
related to the coronavirus pandemic. The state government acknowledged the deaths but said they
were caused by complications from hypertension, diabetes,
meningitis and acute malaria and not the COVID-19 pandemic.
"The state government is concerned over what is happening.
The ministry of health is already handling the situation. When
they are through with the medical investigation, further
necessary actions will be taken," a Kano spokesman said in a
statement.
Kano state has become the epicenter of the pandemic in
northern Nigeria, with 77 confirmed coronavirus cases and one
death. Nigeria has 1,182 cases and a national death toll of 35.
Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje has directed Kano's ministry
of health to investigate the "immediate and remote" causes of
death, the statement said.
Another local paper reported on Sunday that Kano had shut
down private hospitals and diagnostic centers over the high
mortality rate, adding most private facilities were not equipped
to treat the coronavirus.
A week-long lockdown in Kano, which was extended last week,
has limited people's access to clinics for other ailments, while
the state's coronavirus testing lab was closed after staff
became infected with the virus, health officials have
said. Neighbouring Kaduna state said it would extend a quarantine
order by another month after the number of cases rose in Kano
and Abuja, and banned interstate travel, which it said was a
major means of spreading the virus.