TheCable

The Jigawa government says 28 almajiri kids have tested positive for coronavirus in the state.

This brings to 31, the number of almajiri children that have been confirmed positive for COVID-19 in Jigawa in the past 48 hours.

As of May 13, 2020, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) had confirmed a total of 141 cases for Jigawa state.

Abba Zakari, the state commissioner for health, who is also the chairman of the Jigawa COVID 19 task force, confirmed the new cases on Thursday in Dutse.

According to him, with the latest development, the total number of cases in the state is now 169, of which three deaths have been recorded.

“As at yesterday (Wednesday), NCDC released 23 additional cases and you also know that we are working with a laboratory in Kaduna to test the almajiri (Quranic school pupils) who were repatriated from other states to Jigawa,” the commissioner said.

“Apart from the 23 cases, we also got additional 28 almajiri who tested positive.

“Out of the 23 announced by NCDC, three are almajiri, which brought the total to 51. And out of the 51 cases, 31 are almajiri.”

He added that in the next few days, the state government would install a new testing laboratory at the general hospital in Dutse, the state capital.