Attendants and undertakers across the three cemeteries that witnessed unusual burials described the current regularity of burials in the city as unprecedented, urging the government to as a matter of urgency investigate to ascertain the real cause.
Bashir Mohammed, one of the undertakers at the Dandolo Cemetery in Goron Dutse, Dala Local Government Area of Kano State, said,
“This is worrisome, we are becoming overwhelmed by what we are seeing here these days because to me, the way people are dying is not ordinary.”
Mohammed popularly known as Mai Sana’a, said between Saturday and Sunday, over thirty people were buried in the cemetery in contrast to maximum daily record of ten burials previously.
Mohammed said most of the people buried within the period were aged cutting across both sexes. Similarly, at Abattoir Cemetery near Kofar Mazugal, our reporters were told that 61 persons had been buried in the cemetery over the weekend.
The cemetery attendants who disclosed this said most of the deaths were from Zage, Darma, Sharifai and Gabari as well as Zangon Barebari communities in Kano municipal.
Most of the residents who spoke to our reporters attributed the deaths to “severe malaria and typhoid fever besides some other infections and terminal illnesses.”
Some of the residents further attributed the development to the closure of some of the private hospitals in the city where some of the deceased used to access care following the discovery of the first coronavirus case in the state.
Families of deceased call for intervention Sheriff Hadi Kabir who is the chairman Fagge Cemetery Committee has called for immediate government intervention to unravel incidences of unusual deaths in Kano. Kabir who lost his aged father three days ago described the situation as “terrifying.”
He said in his neighbourhood at Zangon Barebari in Kano Municipal Local Government Area, more than thirteen people died between Sunday and Monday from a very severe fever “suspected to be malaria and typhoid.”
He attributed the resurgence of malaria within the area to exposure to mosquito bites which usually herald the set in of the wet season.
“This is not coronavirus as speculated; it is severe malaria because of our exposure to mosquito bites. We have been battling this kind of experience almost on yearly bases around this time.
“So, we are praying to the government to come to our rescue because this malaria is deadly than the COVID-19,” he said.
A relative to one of the deceased in Mandawari quarters, Hajiya Amina Sani, said that her mother died of malaria.
“My mother started having severe fever last week. My brother took her to hospital and they conducted some tests on her and the result showed that she was having malaria. Her condition continued to deteriorate until Sunday when she passed away,” she said.
Malam Hafeezu Adamu, another relative to a deceased in Zage quarters, told Daily Trust that even though his brother was diabetic, doctors clarified that he died of malaria.
“My brother was diabetic, but about five days ago he started complaining of fever and headache. He was diagnosed of malaria and was later admitted in the hospital where he eventually died on Saturday,” he said.
