90% of Yobe mysterious deaths not related to COVID-19
Yobe has explained the cause(s) of strange deaths in different communities across the state is not related to the COVID 19 pandemic.
Commissioner Health and Vice Chairman of the COVID 19 Committee in the state, Dr. Mohammed Gana, told reporters in Damaturu the preliminary report of the investigative response team constituted has confirmed that 90% of the mass death had no multiple case definition symptoms of coronavirus.
Gana said the team arrived at the result after very meticulous, verbal autopsy by interviewing relatives of the deceased and medical personnel of those that died in the hospital or had documented medical history.
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He announced the team recorded 471 deaths from last week of April to 2nd Week of May, 2020 in four affected LGAs, including Potiskum, Nguru, Gashu’a and Damaturu the state capital.
According to him: ” 57% of the total deaths had underlying chronic illness which included fever, hypertension, diabetes, renal disease maternal mortality and accident victims.”
He added 57% of total mortalities were older people within the aged bracket of more than 50 years, stressing that majority of them were males.
According to him: “16 of the 471 deceased relative revealed someone with similar symptoms, and all 16 were investigated and referred to facility. Out of the number, 3 out of the 16 met case definition of COVID-19”.
He stated that 96% of the number had no travel history outside the state just as the geospatial maps also indicated no clustering in the mortality.
Gana also disclosed civil servants in the state accounted for just 3% of the deaths while the remaining 97% of the deaths were among artisans and businessmen.
