COVID-19: Fear grips Kano residents as cemeteries record unusually high burials

Amid the current lockdown in Kano due to rising cases of COVID-19, residents are expressing fears of a possibly high number of undetected cases, even as cemeteries in the city are recording a large number of burials.

A report by NTA, which was monitored by The News Chronicle, says the rate at which people were dying in Kano metropolis was “alarming”.

“There is no official record of fatalities. More than 70 people have died in two days, most of the casualties are the elderly”, the report revealed.

According to the report, more than 70 persons have been buried at the Tarauni and Dandaulo cemeteries between two to three days.

The report further says, the causes of the deaths were not known and there were “no official record of casualties”.

The Health authorities, however, confirmed the incident and said the cases would be investigated.

However, Kano has 59 cases of the COVID-19, according to the NCDC.

Meanwhile, audio circulating on social media by a Kano resident portrayed the uncertainty hanging in the city.

In the anonymous audio record, one Kano resident was lamenting on the high number of deaths in the city and expressed the fears that the disease might have penetrated deep into the city long before the discovery of the index case.

He attributed that to the high level of illiteracy, ignorance and poverty in the city. The reasons he gave were that Kano residents who are predominantly poor have little options and are in dare straits. If they stay at home in obedience to the lockdown order, they would have to contend with hunger, if they go out, they may be at risk of getting infected, he pointed. 

Besides, he accused the State Task Force on Palliatives for not doing enough to meet the needs of the vulnerable.

“A lot of people don’t believe the disease exists. There are areas where people are doing their things as if nothing is at stake. People are dying, that is the situation we are in now”, he stated.

According to the individual who claimed he had sources at the cemeteries, the deaths recorded were quite unusual because they happened shortly after someone might have been reported sick. 

He expressed the fears that the situation could even get worse than Lagos.