Yobe Mass Deaths Not Caused By COVID-19, State Govt Insists

Yobe State Government has revealed that majority of the death recorded in the state recently was not caused by COVID-19.

The state Commissioner for Health and Vice Chairman of the COVID 19 Committee in the state, Dr. Mohammed Gana, told journalists in Damaturu on Tuesday that the preliminary report of the investigative response team constituted by the state government has confirmed that 90 percent of the mass death could not be traced to coronavirus.

The commissioner said the team came to the conclusion after very meticulous, verbal autopsy carried out by interviewing relatives of the deceased and medical personnel of those who died in the hospital or had documented medical history.

He disclosed that the team recorded 471 deaths from 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.

The commissioner said: “Fifty seven percent of the total deaths had underlying chronic illness which included fever, hypertension, diabetes, renal disease maternal mortality and accident victims.”

He revealed that 57 percent of the total mortalities were older people within the aged of more than 50 years, with majority of them males.

Gana said: “Sixteen of the 471 deceased relative 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.”