Out of the suspected cases, 8,406 were confirmed from 114 local government areas across 19 states including the Federal Capital Territory.
He said Yobe state followed on the log of infections with 775 cases, while Katsina and Borno recorded 232 and 118 cases respectively. Mr Adetifa noted that the national diphtheria taskforce deployed National Rapid Response Teams last week to Kano, Yobe, Katsina, Bauchi, Borno, Kaduna, Jigawa and Zamfara to support the outbreak response in the states.According to the NCDC boss, records have shown that most of the confirmed cases in the country were unvaccinated against diphtheria.
He also announced that Katsina Federal Teaching Hospital has agreed to waive bed fees for diphtheria patients admitted into their care. "We continue to support states with the procurement, preposition and distribution of laboratory consumables and reagents to subnational laboratories," he added.Speaking further on NCDC's intervention, Mr Adetifa said through the laboratory network, they continue to conduct preliminary and confirmatory testing at sub-national and national levels respectively.
He added that with the support of our partners including UKHSA, WHO and MSF, the NCDC have been able to conduct refresher training for the deployed National Rapid Response Team laboratory personnel.NCDC explained that diphtheria is a serious bacterial infection caused by the bacterium called Corynebacterium species that affects the nose, throat and sometimes, the skin of an individual.