The Nigerian president has expressed deep concern over a high number of unexplained deaths in the northern state of Kano, amid fears they could be caused by Covid-19.
President Muhammadu Buhari said a lockdown would be imposed in Kano for an additional two weeks, and that he was sending a government team to investigate.
Nigeria's Health Minister Dr Osagie Ehanire says the situation is being "monitored closely".
But following preliminary investigations the state authorities have dismissed a connection with coronavirus.
Hundreds of people are rumoured to have died in the community but no official death records are kept.
Grave diggers initially raised concerns that they were burying a higher than usual number of bodies.
Ali, a grave digger at the Abattoir Graveyard, told the BBC: "We have never seen this, since the major cholera outbreak that our parents tell us about. That was about 60 years ago."
But after ordering a "thorough investigation into the immediate and remote causes of the deaths", announced that their preliminary findings "indicated that the deaths are not connected to the Covid-19 pandemic".
The state government said "reports from the state ministry of health has shown that most of the deaths were caused by complications arising from hypertension, diabetes, meningitis and acute malaria".
"Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje is earnestly waiting for the final report from the state ministry of health so as to take the necessary action."
The commercial and industrial centre of the north, Kano has become the epicentre of coronavirus in northern Nigeria. Its highly dense population is still in lockdown in an effort to contain the spread of the virus.
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