Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna state has revealed that 50 of the almajiri children sent away from Kano State accounted for the 59 active COVID-19 cases in Kaduna State.

El-Rufai revealed this on Sunday via his verified Twitter handle.

Kaduna State has 66 confirmed cases of the virus, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

Out of the 66, six people, including Governor El-Rufai, who was the index case, have been treated and discharged, while one case, a retired civil servant who returned from Kano, was confirmed dead on Saturday.

Giving details of the cases, El-Rufai said: “COVID-19 Update: The Kaduna State Ministry of Health, this evening (Saturday), confirmed receipt of 16 more positive results, 15 of them from almajiri. The state has now recorded 50 cases from repatriated almajiri. Active cases have risen to 59.”

Also, Jigawa State government has hired a private firm to test about 700 almajiri sent packing from Kano and Gombe states.

The state’s Chairman of the Task Force on COVID-19, Dr Abba Zakar Umar, announced this while addressing reporters in Dutse, the state capital, at the weekend.