Katsina records seven deaths, 75 new cases

Masari orders closure of three more markets
The death toll in Katsina State brought about by complications from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has risen to seven.

Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) made this known on its website yesterday.

According to NCDC, 33 patients with the disease are on admission, while six others have been discharged after tests conducted on them came back negative.

The state, which recorded its index case late March in Daura Council, had seen the area shut down by government to curtail spread of the disease.

Governor Aminu Masari has confirmed that 75 positive cases had so far been identified in the state.

Masari, who stated this while briefing newsmen on efforts to curtail spread of the disease, also said that six persons had been discharged from state’s isolation centres.

“We now have 37 positive cases; 37 plus 40 will give you 77 cases, though two were duplicated,” he said.

The governor added that the lockdown in the state would not be lifted due to the number of suspects that have recently returned positive with the disease.

He however said that number of food stores, pharmaceuticals and other necessity shops that were asked to open during the lockdown might be reviewed to accommodate number of people in need.

Masari said that none of the over 500 almajirai who were deported from Gombe and Kano states to Katsina died or contracted the disease.

Meanwhile, he has ordered the shutdown of three more markets in the state to check spread of the pandemic.

The markets are those in Dutsi and Kayawa, both in Dutsi Council, and Garkin Daura in Baure Council.

The state government had ordered the closure of other major markets in some parts of the state following confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the affected areas.

Secretary to the Government of the State (SSG), Mustapha Inuwa, stated that the market shutdown “followed growing concerns by the government and other stakeholders over the increasing confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the state.”

He called on residents to respect the shutdown and remain law-abiding.