Religious leaders in Kano don't believe in COVID-19 - NMA

The chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) in Kano State, Bala Sanusi has stated that COVID-19 is spreading in the State because religious leaders don't believe the virus is real.

He also stated that social distancing is disobeyed in the state with youths seen playing football and calling it “Corona Tournament”.

Bala who spoke on Channels Television advised that the lockdown order in the state needs to be enforced in communities and not just on the highways.

He said, “I think the means of communication (about the virus) matters because it is mostly done through social media and television; these are not available in some of these places.

"Some of the religious leaders do not really agree or believe in the Coronavirus spread and as such the information going round is different. Also, there is propaganda; many people are not complying because of misinformation.

“Our testing capacity in Kano is not adequate. Most cases that come into the hospitals, you will see them with clinical features and you want them to be tested but the response team is not on the ground or they don’t respond on time. This is challenging so we need a rapid response team in Kano.

“Yesterday, I received complaints from some of the doctors that have symptoms of fever and respiratory tract infections. As I am talking to you, it is so sad that there are some people whose samples were not taken. I have raised the alarm about this and this was not rectified.

"Kano youth are playing Corona tournament and you find people sitting around with no social distancing.

“From the situation on the ground, they (security) may not be adequate in number as Kano is quite a big city with a lot of streets, clusters and high-density population. More needs to be done in Kano, using the traditional rulers and going to the grassroots.

"The religious leaders and law enforcement agencies have to go down into the communities and engage these people so that they will see the challenges facing us.”