Strange disease kills 11 in Rivers community

   At least, 11 persons have reportedly died of a strange disease in the Bonny Local Government Area of Rivers State.

  Two of those who died as a result of the strange ailment were identified as Pauline and Fubara. A source in Bonny, who identified himself as Ezekiel, told one of Punch correspondents that while Pauline died on Friday, Fubara died of the ailment on Saturday.

  Ezekiel explained that some officials of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control moved into the area on Saturday with a view to finding out the cause of the recent deaths in the place. The resident said, “Fubara died yesterday, Pauline died a day before yesterday. Within two weeks, there are up to 11 persons who have died. “As of today (Sunday), the NCDC officials are in town and taking samples from volunteers to test for COVID-19 and will soon make their findings public.

   “A lot of people in Bonny now have malaria and typhoid. Again, over the past one week, many people have lost their senses of smell and taste. That is the worry we have. The next thing we saw after that incident is that some young men started dying.

“For the past two weeks, we have lost 10 men; one of them who worked with Saipem died yesterday; his name is Fubara. It is very painful. We cannot trace this one because the NCDC just entered town on Saturday to ascertain the causes of death and loss of taste and smell.

“Some are saying that the loss of taste and smell is associated with COVID-19. Besides that, the rate of pollution in Bonny has increased. In fact, you cannot drink our underground water because the pipes that enter the water have polluted the water. There is fear everywhere.”