Following the spike in the numbers of the COVID-19 cases across the country and particularly in Kano, the Federal Government has warned citizens to be wary of the ‘COVID-19 vaccine’ being sold by some people in Kano State.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, gave the warning on Tuesday in Abuja, at the 16th joint national briefing of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19.
According to him, the vaccine, which is yellow in colour, should be ignored as it has not been certified by the appropriate authorities.
“You must ignore the vaccine being hawked in Kano as COVID-19 vaccine. It has not been certified by anybody. Please don’t patronise it,” Mohammed said.
He added that a recent opinion poll has shown that 99 percent of Nigerians are aware of COVID-19 and that his ministry and its agencies have ramped up their public enlightenment and advocacy campaign to continue to reach Nigerians with information on how they can protect themselves and avoid contracting the disease.
Meanwhile Over 150 people who reportedly died in Kano between Friday and Saturday last week have been buried in three cemeteries, heightening fears that the deceased must have died as a result of a strange ailment.
Undertakers who doubled as grave diggers in the affected cemeteries said the frequency at which they received corpses these days was unusual when compared with the number of people they buried before the coronavirus outbreak.
READ: Kano records 23 new COVID-19 cases, total now 59
The figure of the dead buried in the three cemeteries excludes other people buried in dozens of burial grounds in the eight local government areas that constitute Kano metropolis, though those working in such cemeteries said they did not notice anything unusual.
Also, authorities in Kano, community leaders, families of the deceased and medical officials have given different opinion on the matter with the state ministry of health saying it was investigating the matter.
Our correspondents report that the development has thrown many residents of the city into palpable fears even as they nurse the suspicion of possible community transmission of the ravaging COVID-19 within the state capital, which has a population of over four million people.
Out of the 44 local government areas in Kano State, eight of them are not far from the state capital. They are Nasarawa, Gwale, Dala, Ungogo, Fagge, Tarauni, Kumbotso and Municipal.
As of Monday, April 20, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) said Kano had a total of 59 confirmed COVID-19 cases and one death.
Join Daily Trust WhatsApp Community For Quick Access To News and Happenings Around You.
