Kano State is probably on its way to becoming Nigeria’s epicenter of the novel coronavirus pandemic with local authorities aiming at behavioural changes and establishing more isolation centres to tackle community transmission.
Kano State recorded 118 coronavirus cases within 48 hours, that is, between Thursday and Friday. The increase in cases came three days after COVID-19 tests resumed in the state. The state has a total of 311 confirmed cases, second only to Lagos State that has 1, 006 confirmed cases.
In the last 24 hours, of the 238 new cases of COVID19 in Nigeria, 92 were in Kano, 36 in Federal Capital Territory, and 30 in Lagos. This presents Kano as the State with the highest number of daily cases.
The rising number of cases in Kano State has been attributed to the influx of people from states with confirmed cases of the virus into Nigeria’s most populous state. This has created community transmission with asymptomatic carriers infecting unsuspecting residents of the state leading to a spike in the recent number of confirmed cases.
“I am sure we will stabilise. We will also get better as we try to do what needs to be done and to ensure that people are protected from COVID-19,” Tijjani Hussain, coordinator, COVID-19 Technical Response Team Kano told BusinessDay on phone.
Hussain pointed to big challenges such as attitudinal and behavioural changes that need to be overcome in the fight against the novel coronavirus. Although this is a nation-wide challenge and not limited to Kano State.
“But in Kano, we are trying to reach more people through various communication channels. We are informing people about what they need to do for self-protection. Like observing social distancing and improving personal hygiene to flatten this curve and bring it down.”
In response to questions on the mysterious death of 640 people in Kano, the czar of war against COVID-19 in the state said as soon as investigations are completed, the outcome will be made public. Attributing the deaths to the novel coronavirus will be hasty.
“We are working to have more isolation centres and get things in place before we have the number of confirmed cases increase beyond our capacity. We still have enough spaces and are trying to make more,” Hussain said.
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The numbers coming out of Kano show that in the coming days, with expanded testing, new confirmed cases will pour in and continue to rise. This is an early stage of the outbreak for the state. However, Hussain has argued that the state is on track following laid down guidelines by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and believes soon they will reach where the curve will get flattened.
Meanwhile, the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 has assured Nigerians that the Federal Government is on top of the situation in Kano State.
“The PTF has released pieces of equipment to be transported immediately to Kano to beef up the response,” Boss Mustapha, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and PTF chairman on COVID-19 gave the assurance at the PTF daily briefing on Thursday in Abuja.
These include two oxygen concentrate and three ventilators, 280 protective gowns, 538 examination gloves, 25 boot covers, medical masks, surgical caps, and infrared thermometers.
