Yobe State Health Commissioner, Mohammed Lawan Gana, has pledged to ‘investigate and ascertain’ the deaths of 150 people in Potiskum, Gashua and Nguru towns, The Guardian reports.
According to him, the deaths occurred in the last seven days while the fight against the spread of coronavirus in the state lingers.
“We’re dispatching experts to urgently investigate the dozens of deaths reported in Potiskum, Gashua and Nguru in the last seven days,” Lawan said in a telephone interview on Sunday.
He noted that government is doing everything “humanly possible” to address public concern over deaths of 150 people in a week.
“In spite of the concern on possibility of community transmission of COVID-19; there is no evidence to prove that deaths recorded recently were as a result of disease.
“We have right now sent a team of experts to the three affected towns to conduct investigations into their deaths tolls.”
According to him, health experts will also follow trends and interview relatives of those who died, before consulting with other medical experts on ground.
While speaking on health workers’ capacities, Lawan disclosed that; “the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) have also been procured with the commencement of training health workers in 17 Local Government Areas.
“They will use them in hospitals and COVID-19 isolation centres to protect both patients and the frontline health workers.”
He noted that the state government is strictly adhering to ‘standard health procedures’ in dealing with COVID-19, so as to prevent panic among public.
“The Yobe state government is committed to protecting people’s lives no matter their status and where they live,” noting that government is learning from the mistakes of other states in fighting coronavirus pandemic.
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