<p>On February 27, 2020, Nigeria became one of the countries with COVID-19 infection following the importation of a case from Italy. Kano State recorded its first case on 11th April 2020. Before COVID-19 testing became widely available, a series of mass “mysterious deaths” were reported across the state which were rumored to be attributed to COVID-19 leading to panic and confusion and paralysis of the healthcare system. In a background of poor vital statistics, we sought to determine the cause of the mass "mysterious deaths" in using verbal autopsy (VA).</p>