Virus caused ‘mystery’ mass deaths in north Nigeria: investigators

KANO, Nigeria: Mass deaths in a northern Nigerian state were caused by coronavirus, the authorities said after a preliminary investigation into the phenomenon. Gravediggers in the state of Kano have reported burying dozens of corpses per day, in what the authorities had called “mysterious deaths”. But a local COVID-19 team, after carrying out door-to-door investigations and interviewing bereaved relatives, said coronavirus was most likely to blame. “With the preliminary report, most of the deaths recorded of recent, and tests carried out, indicated that coronavirus is the cause,” the team leader Nasiru Sani Gwarzo told reporters. On Friday, Gwarzo told AFP the rise in deaths in Kano was also due to cuts to medical services for other ailments. But on Sunday he said preliminary findings from the investigation showed the situation had changed. “Even if the mass deaths were initially related to other ailments, coronavirus is presently the major cause of the mass deaths in Kano,” he said.