By our reporter| Kano residents are living in fear following the rising number of unexplained deaths in the city
The increase in death rate amid the coronavirus pandemic, comes at the time the state witnessed a spike in COVID-19 cases.
Before the suspension of COVID-19 tests on Friday, 74 cases were recorded in Kano.
Many people in the state including health workers beleieve there are more cases than recorded as the state lacks testing capacity.
“Things are in disarray here, and there is no well structured response to COVID-19. The government is not communicating. They are not testing, and people are dying. We have had people coming here to hospital and when they died, they are immediately buried without taking samples for testing.”
“This is not a rumour. People are dying. The suspended test centre was fumigated days ago, and normally it should take 48 hours but as of today, it has not been reopened. They said this is because of the shortage of reagents,” a health worker said on Saturday.
Mubarak Umar, an Abuja/Kano based journalist, also tweeted a list of more than 10 prominent persons that died on Saturday in Kano which include an ex grand khadi, former deputy vice chancellor of Bayero University Kano (BUK), and a former chairman of the state universal basic education board.
He tweeted, ”Kano lost the following personalities today:
•Prof Ibrahim Ayagi, CEO of Hassan •Gwarzo School
•Alh. Dahiru Rabiu, Former Grand Khadi
•Dr. Musa Umar Gwarzo
•Mal Musa Tijjani, former Editor of Triumph Newspaper
•Alh. Adamu Isyaku Dal, former SUBEB Boss
•Alh Salisu Lado
— Mubarak Umar (@Mubarack_Umar) April 25, 2020
Another Facebook user in Kano, Umar Khaleel, said his grandmother was the 14th person to be taken for burial at a cemetery in the state as of 10am on Friday.
According to Khaleel, upon getting home, they were informed of the death of another family member. He said they took his body to the same cemetery at about 2pm, and he was the 25th person to be buried there that day.
“As at the time we left the cemetery, 7 new graves had been dug and were awaiting dead bodies,” he wrote in a post.
Zainab Mahmoud, a Twitter user, said she and her colleagues decided to investigate the deaths in Kano, and by day two, they had received reports of over 100 deaths.
“A large number highly suspicious for COVID-19,” she tweeted.
Kano the state governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, on Saturday admitted that the state is passing through tough times.
The governor who earlier in the week dismissed the news of unsual deaths in the state, said the state government had rented a hotel where suspected cases whose blood samples were taken are kept.
He also said the isolation centre at Sani Abacha Stadium can accommodate 210 people.
With social media reports
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