Yobe Governor, Mai Mala Buni
The Yobe Government has advised residents of the state to access healthcare services to know their health status in respect of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Dr Muhammed Gana, the state Commissioner for Health, gave the advice on Saturday in Gashua, Headquarters of Bade Local Government Area.
Gana, who is also the Vice Chairman, Committee of COVID-19 Prevention and Control, said that investigation conducted by COVID-19 Rapid Response Team revealed that 57 per cent of those that died recently in the state had underlined chronic illness.
“There is need for the people to access healthcare services because one of the findings during our investigation is that many people have underlined illnesses like hypertension, diabetic and so on.
“So, it is going to be very imperative that people should access healthcare services so that they know their health status,” he said.
He also enjoined the people to adopt safeguard measures against the heat wave, and counselled elderly persons to restrict activities to early mornings and late evenings when the temperature is favourable.
In his remarks, the Emir of Bade, Alhaji Abubakar Sulaiman, said the deaths recorded in his domain could be attributed to natural cause rather than COVID-19.
Sulaiman said that the people in the area witnessed more loss of lives in 2019 due to heat wave compared to the prevailing death toll.
“We were in the same kind of situation last year; in one day, we recorded 21 deaths, this year we recorded 36 deaths in six days.”, he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Bade and other local government areas of the state witnessed upsurge in the number of deaths in the past few weeks.
The state government has, however, said that 90 per cent of the deaths were not related to COVID-19. (NAN)
