13% of Kano residents tested for COVID-19 were positive – Report

About 13 per cent of Kano residents tested for COVID-19 tested positive for the virus, according to an official report.

The report released by the Kano State Ministry of Health was titled ‘COVID-19 response update: Kano laboratory overview’

It indicated that as of June 20, the state had collected 9,103 samples, 8,948 results were retrieved, 155 samples pending and 1,191 confirmed positive cases.

The Kano positive rate is less than the overall for Nigeria where about 19 per cent of tests have come out positive.

As of Friday, Nigeria has tested 125,090 samples out of which 23,298 have tested positive.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), which coordinates the COVID-19 testing and treatment across the country, does not, however, provide a regular state by state breakdown of the tests done.

However, over 40 per cent of people who have tested positive for COVID-19 in Nigeria are in Lagos, indicating the state also has the highest number of people tested.

The Kano Data

The breakdown of the data by the Kano health ministry showed that from March 20 to April 20, the state collected 1,765 samples and recorded 219 positive cases.

Between April 20 and May 20, the state collected 2,930 samples with 735 testing positive.

Also, between May 20 and June 20, the samples collected double to 4,408 while the number of positive cases dropped to 237.

According to the data, the samples were treated at five NCDC designated laboratories with a combined total of 530 testing capacity daily.

The laboratories are Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital with 90 testing capacity daily, Bayero University, Kano (180), 54Gene (90), IFRAN (80) and EHA (90).

Updated Details

Updated details provided on the health ministry’s Twitter handle on Friday night, showed that the positive rate had reduced to 12 per cent as of Friday. Total samples collected as of Friday are 9,775, the confirmed cases are 1,191 with 322 active cases. A total of 818 people have been treated and discharged after recovery.

The state has also recorded 51 confirmed deaths from the disease.

Controversial deaths

The 51 recorded deaths are separate from the mysterious deaths recorded in the state, about 500 of which were suspected to be from COVID-19.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how the health minister, Osagie Ehanire, said about 60 per cent of ‘mysterious deaths’ recorded in Kano State may have been triggered by COVID-19.

The northwestern state had in April experienced a spate of unknown deaths, about 979, including first-class traditional rulers, health workers and academics.

“With regard to unexplained deaths in Kano which occurred in April over a five-week period, the team confirmed that a total of 979 deaths were recorded in eight municipal LGA in the state at a rate of 43 deaths per day,” Mr Ehanire said.
“The peak was in the second week of April. By the beginning of May, the death rate had reduced to 11 deaths per day it used to be.

“The verbal autopsy revealed that about 56 per cent of deaths had occurred at home while 38 per cent were in a hospital.

“Investigation suggests that between 50-60 per cent of the deaths may have been triggered by or due to COVID-19, in the face of pre-existing ailments,” the said.

The Kano government, however, disputed the federal government’s report, saying its findings show that only about 16 per cent of those strange deaths could have been from COVID-19.