More than 100 confirmed patients of diphtheria infection are presently receiving treatment at two newly isolation centres in Kano, The Guardian was reliably informed.

Although an unconfirmed source said over 130 persons were currently on isolation in four treatment centres, official sources disclosed that the disease has now spread to 31 local councils of the state.

This was even as the state battles large scale zero dose of immunization according to the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF).

Giving an update on the outbreak to journalists yesterday in Kano, the State Epidemiologist, Dr. Abdullahi Kaura-Matta, disclosed that over 2,000 cases had been managed and discharged since the disease surfaced in December 2022.

He stated that the disease was spreading in the state, saying government has established two centres for effective management of positive cases and to contain further spread of the contiguous infection.

Kaura-Matta also explained that a contact tracing team has also been put in place to search for persons who might have had contact with confirmed cases.

Although the UNICEF recently raised concern on the alarming rate of zero dose immunisation in Kano with about 300,000 children without access to vaccination, Kaura-Matta stressed that government was renewing DPT (diphtheria toxin-containing vaccine) and other infections immunisation campaign to manage the outbreak.