THE Presidential Task Force Committee on COVID-19 has linked the mysterious deaths in Kano to Coronavirus.
The Head of the team, Dr Nasiru Gwarzo, disclosed this in an interview with reporters in Kano on Sunday.
This corroborates the fears of a former Governor of the state, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, expressed in a recent letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, on the cause of the recent deaths in Kano.
The Point had reported that indigenes of Kano State, at home and abroad, had called for an urgent investigation into the mysterious deaths, warning the Governor of the state, Abdullahi Ganduje, against politicising the issue.
The recent unexplained deaths in Kano, said to have hit over 600, led to the deployment of a Presidential Taskforce committee.
The team head said, “With the preliminary report, most of the deaths recorded of recent and test carried out indicated that coronavirus is the cause. Hence before the final reports which would be ready in the next one week or few days, it is necessary for people of the state to wake up from their slumber that this is a serious issue at hand.
“We need to know what is happening; we are successful in identifying what the problems are and, secondly, we are happy with the level of cooperation of the private sector and other stake holders.”
Gwarzo decried the attitude of Kano residents to the fight against COVID-19, wondering why many of them were exhibiting a non-challant attitude towards laid down precautionary measures.
He had also said in a BBC Hausa interview that Kano was at a stage where the test result of 80 per cent of every 100 samples returned positive.
Gwarzo said, “What we are afraid of in this pandemic is what is happening. The pandemic has left the first stage of entering the country. It has left the second stage and has entered the third stage of community spread. This is not news that will be palatable to the public but like a Hausa proverb says, ‘on the day you are to take a bath, you cannot hide your navel.’
“If you follow the debate, while there is some truth in other causes, coronavirus is the leading cause of these deaths in Kano. On the coronavirus itself, when we conducted tests before, you saw four or five; now you can take 100 samples and 80 (per cent) return positive.”
