H5N1

Kwango: Flu-like illness kills 11 in Kasongolunda

Via Radio Okapi: Kwango: Flu-like illness kills 11 in Kasongolunda. The Google translation and then a comment:

An unknown flu-like illness has already killed 11 people, mostly seniors out of 180 cases already identified in Kasongolunda territory, in Kwango province, since the second week of January 2021. The provincial minister Kwango Health Officer Didier Tshikisa told Radio Okapi on Monday March 1 that a multidisciplinary team was dispatched to the area for investigations. 

This team will take the samples to be sent to the National Institute for Biomedical Research (INRB) in Kinshasa. 

This team, he announced, is made up of nursing staff, laboratory assistants and communicologists. 

“The flu as you know and covid-19 have almost the same signs. It was the elderly who would die from it according to the records we have and that the last case of death dates back to February 14, ” said the provincial Minister of Health of Kwango. 

He further stated that the Covid-19 test carried out by this multidisciplinary team to patients turned out to be negative: 

"On the spot, what we can say, the rapid covid-19 tests turned out to be negative, but for the rest, we are waiting for the samples that we have just taken that we send to the INRB for see if it is what (which disease).” 

I don't find anything on Twitter about Kasongolunda or Kwango, and on what little we know so far, this outbreak seems likely to be COVID-19, concealed by incorrect rapid tests. But that's what medical labs are for.    

Liberia: Health ministry reportedly investigating Ebola suspected case In Monrovia

Via GNN Liberia: Health Ministry Reportedly Investigating Ebola Suspected Case In Monrovia.

According to report which is now been highlighted on social media, the reported suspected case of Ebola from Guinea last evening, February 17, 2021 is reportedly being treated at the Redemption Hospital awaiting test. 

According to the report, Dr. Mohammed Swaray who treated the suspected case of a lady at MEDICOVER Clinic, Soul Clinic Branch has been self-isolation, while the clinic is being placed under surveillance. 

The relatives of the patient who escorted the lady from Guinea to the clinic are asked to keep in isolation until otherwise. 

The patient returned from Nzerekore, one of the troubled spots in Guinea few days ago with high fever and running stomach and was on medication at a local clinic around the FDA Community in Paynesville for about three days before going to MEDICOVER Clinic. 

There has been no confirmation of this report, but health authorities in Monrovia say they investigating.

North Korea puts Kaesong city in lockdown over suspected COVID-19 outbreak

Via The Globe and Mail, and report by The Associated Press: North Korea puts Kaesong city in lockdown over suspected COVID-19 outbreak.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un placed the city of Kaesong near the border with South Korea under total lockdown over coronavirus concerns and declared a state of emergency to contain a potential outbreak, the North’s state media reported Sunday. 

The step was taken Friday afternoon after a person was found with suspected COVID-19 symptoms in the city, the Korean Central News Agency said. It said the person is a runaway who had fled to South Korea years ago before illegally crossing the border into the North early last week. 

If that person is officially declared a virus patient, he or she would be the North’s first confirmed coronavirus case. North Korea has steadfastly said it has no single virus case on its territory, a claim questioned by outside experts.

During an emergency Politburo meeting Saturday, Kim also declared a state of emergency in the Kaesong area, KCNA said. It quoted Kim as saying that there was “a critical situation in which the vicious virus could be said to have entered the country,.”  

Kim said he took “the preemptive measure of totally blocking Kaesong City and isolating each district and region from the other within July 24 afternoon just after receiving the report on it,” according to KCNA.  

Describing its anti-virus efforts as a “matter of national existence,” North Korea earlier this year shut down nearly all cross-border traffic, banned foreign tourists and mobilized health workers to quarantine anyone with symptoms. But the Kaesong lockdown is the first such known measure taken in a North Korean city to stem the pandemic.

NK News says the suspected case is a "runaway" who after 3 years in South Korea somehow crossed the DMZ back into North Korea.

Kazakhstan denies Chinese reports of pneumonia deadlier than COVID-19

Via The Globe and Mail, a Reuters report: Kazakhstan denies Chinese reports of pneumonia deadlier than COVID-19. Excerpt:

Kazakhstan dismissed as incorrect on Friday a warning by China’s embassy for its citizens to guard against an outbreak of pneumonia in the central Asian nation that it described as being more lethal than the coronavirus. 

In a statement late on Thursday on its official WeChat account, the Chinese embassy flagged a “significant increase” in cases in the Kazakh cities of Atyrau, Aktobe and Shymkent since mid-June.  

On Friday, however, Kazakhstan’s healthcare ministry branded Chinese media reports based on the embassy statement as “fake news”.  

The ministry said its tallies of bacterial, fungal and viral pneumonia infections, which also included cases of unclear causes, were in line with World Health Organisation guidelines. 

“The information published by some Chinese media regarding a new kind of pneumonia in Kazakhstan is incorrect,” the ministry said. 

Kazakhstan, which imposed a second lockdown this week to rein in the pandemic, has a tally of almost 55,000 COVID-19 infections, including 264 deaths. The number of new cases rose on Thursday to a daily record of 1,962.  

On Tuesday, state news agency Kazinform said the number of pneumonia cases “increased 2.2 times in June as compared to the same period of 2019”. 

In its statement, the Chinese embassy had said pneumonia in Kazakhstan killed 1,772 people in the year’s first half, with 628 deaths in June, including Chinese citizens.  

“The mortality rate of the disease is much higher than that of pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus,” it said. 

It is unclear whether the pneumonia it referred to was caused by a virus related to coronavirus or a different strain.

Kazakhstan's great 'unknown pneumonia' scare

Via Kazinform, a July 9 report: Nur-Sultan sees almost 4-fold rise in beds for COVID-19 patients. The full report and then a comment:

NUR-SULTAN. KAZINFORM - The total number of beds at infectious hospitals in Nur-Sultan has been increased from 1,000 to over 3,700 since the start of the pandemic, Kazinform reports. 

According to the capital's administration press service, there are 13 hospitals to treat COVID-19 patients in the city.  

The National Scientific Medical Center has opened an infectious unit for 240 COVID-19 patients, while the city's multi-purpose hospital No.1 has been converted into an infectious hospital. The Ramada Plaza hotel has also provided 500 more beds to receive COVID-19 patients.  

The press service said a perinatal hospital for pregnant women diagnosed with the coronavirus infection had been opened as well as the number of medical facilities treating pneumonia patients had risen from 1 to 7 in the capital.  

According to Altai Kulginov, Nur-Sultan mayor, 1.5 thousand beds are on standby to prepare for the possibility of a surge in COVID-19 cases. 800 more equipped medical beds are being obtained to that end.  

It is also said that the city administration is working on expanding the availability of CT scans for the citizens to prevent severe pneumonia cases.

The Great Unknown Pneumonia Scare drew a lot of attention to Central Asia today. It started with a report on a statement by the Chinese embassy to nationals living in Kazakhstan. Granted the uncertainty of Google translation from Chinese to English, a careful reading of the statement doesn't say anything about an unknown pneumonia; it simply refers to the "new coronary virus," which currently spiking in the country. It clearly means COVID-19.

But the Global Times, an official Chinese government news outlet, published a story on a "local pneumonia of unknown cause" with a "much higher" fatality rate. Here's an excerpt:

The unknown pneumonia in Kazakhstan caused 1,772 deaths in the first six months of the year, including 628 people in June alone, including Chinese citizens, the embassy said in a statement on its WeChat platform on Thursday.

"The fatality rate of the disease is much higher than COVID-19," read the embassy's statement.

Organizations including Kazakhstan's health department are studying the "virus of this pneumonia", the embassy said.

There hasn't been any indication whether this disease is related to the COVID-19.

Some Chinese experts said that measures should be taken to prevent the pneumonia from spreading into China. Kazakhstan borders Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

The embassy is reminding Chinese citizens in Kazakhstan to raise their awareness of measures to prevent the spread of the virus.

The embassy quoted local media as saying that since mid-June, almost 500 people have been infected with the pneumonia in three regions of Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan's healthcare minister said on Wednesday that the number of patients sickened by the pneumonia is two to three times more than those who have been infected with COVID-19, Kazakh news agency Kazinform reported.

I don't use WeChat, but it's strange that the embassy would release such news on a social-media platform but not on its own website. Moreover, I don't find any reference in Kazinform to this "unknown pneumonia."

It also seems highly unlikely that this pneumonia had been distinguished for six months from routine COVID-19 cases, and had killed precisely 1,772 unlucky Kazakhs and Chinese nationals, without having been identified as a distinct virus, without mention of a test for it, and without reporting it to WHO. And how many non-fatal cases have been identified as "unknown pneumonia"? WHO's Kazakhstan office has nothing about it. Its most recent article, dated February 27, has to do with improving care for patients with chronic diseases.

But the Global Times story also has this to say, with my bolding:

The unknown pneumonia has stirred heated discussions among Chinese netizens who remain anxious about the coronavirus pandemic.

As of press time, more than 370 million netizens read posts with the hashtag "pneumonia of unknown cause reported in Kazakhstan" on China's Sina Weibo. "What has happened to earth in 2020? First, the COVID-19 and now another pneumonia? All we want for the year is to live safely," wrote a netizen.

So a quarter of China's population picked up this report, which in itself should have made it a big international story. But only Reuters carried it, in a brief article repeating the Global Times without any additional information or confirmation.

Both Kazakhstan and China make dire threats against anyone passing along false information over social media, but this looks like a genuinely bogus report from a major Chinese news medium. Maybe the Kazakh government will confirm it within a day or two, with explanatory details. I'm not holding my breath.

A very little more on Kazakhstan/Kyrgyzstan 'pneumonia'

I've just checked the websites of the health ministries of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. The latter at least has reports as recent as yesterday on the COVID-19 pandemic. Kazakhstan  has some documents dated as recently as July 8 that refuse to download. Maybe someone who reads Cyrillic better than I can tell what they're about.

We can certainly hope that this "unknown pneumonia" is a scare and not a whole new virus. But it's common for outbreaks to start and flourish in countries with bad health-ministry websites.

US: Hundreds of Georgia’s poultry workers have tested positive for COVID-19

Via The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: EXCLUSIVE: Hundreds of Georgia’s poultry workers have tested positive for COVID-19. Excerpt:

Nearly 400 workers in Georgia’s prized poultry industry have tested positive for the disease caused by the coronavirus, and one has died from his illness, according to Georgia Department of Public Health statistics obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 

 The 388 workers who have been sickened by COVID-19 represent about 2% of the estimated 16,500 people employed at 14 chicken processing plants across the state.

Obtained from hospitals and poultry plants, the data do not identify the workers or say where they contracted COVID-19. But the head of Baldwin-based Fieldale Farms said a 63-year-old Hispanic man with “other health issues” who worked at the company’s chicken plant in Cornelia died from the disease this month. Many immigrants and refugees work in the state’s poultry industry.

“The biggest challenge for these employees is the community widespread transmission in the areas where they live, the lack of education about COVID-19, and reluctance to change behaviors,” said Georgia Public Health spokeswoman Nancy Nydam, adding that her agency has received many anecdotal reports of people attending large social gatherings, house parties and religious services.

“Also, most live in multi-generational homes with large numbers of family members (12-14 persons),” she said. “They have no place to self-isolate if they are sick with COVID-19 and the whole family ends up getting sick.” 

News of the illnesses comes as President Donald Trump is vowing to prevent food shortages by ensuring America’s meat and poultry processors “continue operations uninterrupted to the maximum extent possible.” He signed a related executive order Tuesday.

Nationwide, at least 20 meatpacking workers have died from COVID-19 and more than 5,000 have been hospitalized for it or are showing symptoms of the disease, according to the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union. Meanwhile, 22 meatpacking plants have closed during the last two months, resulting in a 25% reduction in pork slaughter capacity and a 10% percent drop in beef slaughter capacity, the union said. 

Georgia’s $41 billion poultry industry — it directly employs 45,591 people and is responsible for about 15% of the nation’s poultry production — is racing to prevent such disruptions.

“Georgia’s poultry producers have implemented extraordinary measures to protect employees from the COVID-19 virus while continuing to produce over 31 million pounds of chicken and 7 million table eggs daily to restock the supply chains that feed people throughout the United States,” said Mike Giles, president of the Georgia Poultry Federation.

Giles highlighted the precautions Fieldale Farms has adopted at its chicken processing plants in Gainesville, Murrayville and Cornelia. The employees who work there must don masks, wash their hands in disinfectant and have their temperatures checked before they can go to work each day, said Tom Hensley, president of the Baldwin-based company. Those with high temperatures are referred to a nurse, who asks them a series of questions to determine whether they should be tested for COVID-19. The workers sent home to be tested are paid while they are away.

Eighty-seven of the plants’ 4,000 workers have tested positive for COVID-19, Hensley said. Fifteen have recovered and returned to their jobs.

Nigeria: Buhari’s team lands in Kano as five more personalities die

Via The Punch: Buhari’s team lands in Kano as five more personalities die. This is the concluding section of a long article on COVID-19 in Nigeria:

Meanwhile, the President on Tuesday sent a team to Kano State as part of efforts to contain COVID-19 cases in the state.  

The  team  met with state Governor, Dr  Abdullahi Ganduje, on the directive of Buhari. 

The Chief Press Secretary to Governor, Abba Anwar, in a statement, said the team was led by Dr  Sani Gwarzo and that they met with Ganduje  at the Africa House, Government House, Kano.  

Besides Gwarzo, others in the committee are a former Director General of the NCDC, Prof Abdussalam Nasidi, and the  Head of  the Department of Health Services at the Federal Ministry of Health, Dr Bimpe Adebiyi. 

According to the statement by Anwar,  Gwarzo said the team members were in Kano  to find out what the state needed to contain  COVID-19. 

He added, “President Buhari directed us to do everything possible to support, reinforce and mobilise support even  beyond the nation. 

“Your Excellency in the special committee sent to Kano to work with the state government are experts in public health and other areas. 

“In the special committee there are people like Prof Abdussalam Nasidi, the pioneer Director General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Contre, who is a professor of infectious diseases. 

“There is also Dr Bimpe Adebiyi, who heads the Department of Health Services at the Federal Ministry of Health.” 

In his remarks, Ganduje thanked Buhari for coming to the aid of the state . He restated his earlier call for more testing centres in the state, saying, “a testing centre is the nucleus of the fight against COVID-19.”  

Nasidi, on his part, said the team was in Kano  to reinforce already existing structures in the state. 

In a related development, the unusual deaths, especially among the elite and prominent people in Kano, continued on Tuesday.  

Those  who died included, Alhaji Uba Adamu,  the father of the Vice Chancellor of the National Open University,  Prof Abdullah Adamu. He died in the early hours of Tuesday.  

Also, a spiritual leader of the Murtala Mohammed Central Mosque in Kano, Sheik Tijjani Yola, has also died. A family source told The PUNCH in Kano on Tuesday that the renowned cleric died in the early hours of the day. 

The source said, “He passed away at his residence in the Gwale area in Kano in the early hours of today and was laid to rest around 9 am.”  

According to the source, the death of Sheik Yola has left a big vacuum as he was managing one of the largest mosques in the city. 

A former Speaker of the Jigawa state House of Assembly, Adamu Sarawa, died on Monday of undisclosed ailment.  

Also, a former chairperson of the Federation of Muslim Women Association of Nigeria, Kano State chapter,  Hajiya Halima Shittu,  also lost her life. Shittu was said to have died at her residence at the NNDC Quarters on Tuesday morning and had since been buried in accordance with Islamic rites. 

A  lecturer at the Department of Architecture, Kano University of Science and Technology (KUST), Wudil, Dr Ghali Umar, died three days ago.  

The Public Relations Officer of the university, Mallam Abdullahi Abdullahi confirmed the death of lecturer to The PUNCH in Kano on Tuesday. He said the deceased had since been buried in accordance with the Islamic rites. 

Residents have continued to  entertain fears as the unusual deaths continue amidst the coronavirus pandemic in the state.  

As of Tuesday, Kano has recorded 77 cases of COVID-19.  

The NCDC testing centre at the Aminu Kano Testing Hospital which was closed down about a week ago, has resumed operation. A top government official, who did not want his name mentioned, confirmed the development to The PUNCH in Kano on Tuesday. 

“The centre resumes operation today (Tuesday) but  don’t quote me because we have been directed to stop talking to the press. We should allow the task force to talk to press.”

Nigeria: DSS DG's mother dies in Kano

Via Vanguard, another mystery death in Kano state: DSS DG's mother dies in Kano.

As controversy continues to surround strange deaths in Kano, Hajia Karimatu Abubakar, mother of the Director-General of the Department of State Security, DSS, Alhaji Yusuf Magaji Bichi is dead. 

She died in Bichi Town Sunday night and has since been buried on Monday in Bichi according to Islamic rites.  

Among her children are Director-General of the Department of State Services, DSS Alhaji Yusuf Magaji Bichi and Alhaji Muntari Magaji a lecturer at Bayero University Kano.

There has been an uproar of strange deaths in Kano, though the state government said they are not COVID-19 related. 

On Sunday, Muhammad Garba, Commissioner of Information, asked residents not to panic “as the government is on top of the situation and the mystery or whatever it is will soon be unravelled”.  

In the past week, the state has witnessed multiples of deaths, with Sabitu Shaibu, deputy head of the state task force on COVID-19 putting the toll at 640.  

There were concerns that the deaths could be as a result of COVID-19 (Kano has 77 confirmed cases of coronavirus) but Garba attributed them to hypertension, acute malaria, and diabetes.

Nigeria: Kano state's rise in deaths not due to COVID-19: State government

Via Reuters: Nigeria Kano state's rise in deaths not due to coronavirus -state government. The official explanation is not persuasive.

KANO, Nigeria, April 26 (Reuters) - A sharp rise in deaths in the Nigerian city of Kano was caused by complications from other health conditions and not the new coronavirus, the state government said on Sunday, citing a preliminary assessment, after a local newspaper reported what it called “mysterious” recent deaths.  

The Daily Trust newspaper reported on Tuesday the recent deaths of around 150 people in the northern commercial city of Kano, prompting investigations to determine if they were related to the coronavirus pandemic. 

The state government acknowledged the deaths but said they were caused by complications from hypertension, diabetes, meningitis and acute malaria and not the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“The state government is concerned over what is happening. The ministry of health is already handling the situation. When they are through with the medical investigation, further necessary actions will be taken,” a Kano spokesman said in a statement. 

Kano state has become the epicenter of the pandemic in northern Nigeria, with 77 confirmed coronavirus cases and one death. Nigeria has 1,182 cases and a national death toll of 35. 

Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje has directed Kano’s ministry of health to investigate the “immediate and remote” causes of death, the statement said. 

Another local paper reported on Sunday that Kano had shut down private hospitals and diagnostic centers over the high mortality rate, adding most private facilities were not equipped to treat the coronavirus. 

A week-long lockdown in Kano, which was extended last week, has limited people’s access to clinics for other ailments, while the state’s coronavirus testing lab was closed after staff became infected with the virus, health officials have said.  

Neighbouring Kaduna state said it would extend a quarantine order by another month after the number of cases rose in Kano and Abuja, and banned interstate travel, which it said was a major means of spreading the virus.