The Governor of Bauchi State, Bala Mohammed has said 150 people died in Azare, headquarters of Katagum Local Government area of the state, in the last 30 days.
The governor, who made the statement while addressing Newsmen on Sunday, named hypertension and other related diseases as the cause of the deaths.
This comes amidst rumors that over 300 people died within 10 days from COVID-19 in parts of the state, which share a common boundary with Kano and Jigawa States — two states that were recently hit with series of mysterious deaths.
Refuting the claims, Mohammed explained that Azare recorded only 27 positive cases out of the 44 new cases announced for the state by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on Saturday night.
The governor said because of the massive deaths and community transmission of coronavirus which has risen, Katagum, Giade and Zaki local government areas will be on total lockdown for 10 days.
He told journalists on Sunday;
Just yesterday (Saturday) some tests were returned for some areas, especially Azare and Giade and we discovered out of 44 new cases, 27 tested positive for coronavirus in Azare, about seven from Giade and other places. And we discovered that this is as a result of community transmission and there was a widespread rumour that Azare was becoming very bad in terms of hygiene.
As a result, we are thereby enforcing a total lockdown of Katagum, Giade and Zaki Local Government Areas for the period of 10 days to enable us enforce our contact tracing , quarantined the people suspected to have the virus and establish a robust and durable administration of managing the situation.
He added that;
During the period, we will also spray and decontaminate the towns in the affected local government areas, we would embark on massive testing of residents, and we have already delegated about seven committees to be headed by the deputy governor to stay in Azare during the period of the lockdown to see that our aim is achieved. We are calling on the security agencies especially the military garrison in Azare to help us with the total lockdown.
During the weekend, a former House of Representatives member, Ibrahim Baba had reported the “massive outbreak of coronavirus” in Azare.
He said the town recorded over 100 COVID-19 deaths in one week alone, causing panic among residents.
Similarly, the Deputy Public Relations Officer (P.R.O) of the State Asset and Recovery Committee, Musa Azare, in a letter addressed to the governor, claimed that 301 fresh graves were dug at the Azare Cemetery in the last 14 days.
Azare who posted the letter on his Facebook wall, said:
Information reaching me from Azare says that as at on Sunday there were 301 fresh graves in the Azare cemetery, dug in the last 14 days.
He claimed to have verified the information from multiple sources.
But the governor told reporters at the Government House, in Bauchi, that about 150 had died in the last 30 days according to a report received from the committee set up to investigate the strange deaths.
Mohammed said:
We have reviewed the rumour about Azare that it has become a morgue; it’s not true, we have gotten the statistics of the death in the last 30 days.
About 150 died in Azare, an average of about eight death per day and most of them we have found the causes to arising from hypertension, and other related diseases, it’s not true that people are falling and dying in Azare, even if that is the situation, we are moving there as a government.
Bauchi has recorded 183 confirmed cases, six discharges and one death, as at the time of filing in this report.
