Over 30,000 cases of diphtheria have been recorded across several local government areas in Kano State.

The Director-General of the Kano State Centre for Disease Control (KNCDC), Muhammad Abbas, confirmed this on Channels Television’s breakfast programme, The Morning Brief.

He further stated that “the fatalities we have are 1,744,” while “14.5% of them” among the confirmed cases have been hospitalised.

Addressing response efforts, he noted that “what Kano needs to do is mass vaccination,” while calling for community collaboration to support surveillance and early detection.

“When we went deep into the villages and did what we call active case searches among the dead, another child met the definition of diphtheria,” he said, emphasising that early reporting remains critical to containing the spread.