![Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai [PHOTO CREDIT: @BashirAhmaad]](https://i1.wp.com/media.premiumtimesng.com/wp-content/files/2020/04/Nasir-El-Rufai-e1594390787528.jpg?fit=800%2C533&ssl=1)
A four-month old baby who tested positive to COVID-19 in Kaduna has been discharged by the state government.
The state has 76 active cases as of Friday according to the state’s Commissioner of Health, Amina Baloni, in a statement issued on Saturday.
She said out of the 232 cases reported, 149 have been discharged, while seven deaths have been recorded.
The Commissioner warned that the state has tested almost 2000 samples, but case numbers are likely to rise further as more tests are conducted in more places.
“COVID-19 cases have been recorded in 33 wards in nine local government areas of the state: Chikun, Giwa, Igabi, Kaduna North, Kaduna South, Makarfi, Sabon-Gari, Soba and Zaria. The data shows that 80% of the infected persons are male.’’
The statement reiterated that most of the cases either have a history of interstate travel or are contacts of infected persons.
“In addition to public health warnings to avoid interstate travel, state health officials have been engaged in vigorous contact tracing to contain the spread of the infections,’’ she assured.
“The Ministry has further stepped up active case searching and testing in communities to stem secondary infections.”
She added that the testing capacity of the state is being enhanced to enable more aggressive testing in the coming weeks.
READ ALSO: COVID-19: Kaduna govt extends restrictions by two weeks
The Commissioner revealed that the state took “delivery of a mobile testing truck a few days ago, while it awaits the delivery of equipment that would enable the mobile truck and 12 GeneXpert machines spread across several general hospitals to increase the number of testing labs in the state.’’ she said.
She added that the flexibility of a mobile testing vehicle and testing labs in local government areas will enable the state to ascertain with greater accuracy its COVID-19 status and allow that data to inform further decisions on reopening the state.
The statement noted that the testing laboratory in Yusuf Dantsoho Hospital is awaiting validation from the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control.
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![A man is being tested for COVID-19 in Nigeria [PHOTO: TW: @NCDCgov]](https://i0.wp.com/media.premiumtimesng.com/wp-content/files/2020/08/EevF243X0AEt286.jpg?resize=120%2C86&ssl=1)
![COVID-19 vaccine. [CREDIT: Duetsche Welle]](https://i0.wp.com/media.premiumtimesng.com/wp-content/files/2020/12/COVID-19-vaccine.jpg?resize=120%2C86&ssl=1)
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