A gloomy picture was painted on Sunday, May 10, in Kano as the government confirmed that 47 health workers in the state tested positive for Covid-19.

Kano is now the second state after Lagos in the number of cases of the virus that has spread across the world.

The News Agency of Nigeria quotes Dr Tijjani Husaain, the coordinator of Kano state task force on COVID-19, as confirming the development.

Husaain made the disclosure at a news conference noting that the health workers were confirmed to have been infected by the virus in the past weeks.

He, however, added that no new case of the virus infection were recorded among health personnel in the past few days.

Husaain further said that the feat was achieved sequel to the state government's prompt actions to protect health workers and guard against future occurrence.

The government agent noted that the state had recorded 576 confirmed cases of the disease, with 29 new cases and 32 discharged.

“Out of the total number of confirmed cases in Kano state, we recorded 21 deaths.

“On Saturday; we also recorded 84 new suspected cases of the COVID-19, bringing the total number of the suspected cases to 1,820 in the state,”

Husaain said. "Between Saturday and Sunday, 29 of the 84 samples collected were confirmed positive to the virus.

“So far we have collected 2,072 samples in the state," he said.

The task force official added that as part of the state government efforts to stem the pandemic, over 1,000 frontline health workers were undergoing special training in the state.

He urged the people of Kano to adhere to the safety protocols, social distancing, use of face mask and the lockdown order.

Earlier, uncertainty hit the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) in Abeokuta, Ogun state, as a nurse and three others are said to have tested positive for COVID-19.

Also called coronavirus, the disease has continued to spread fast across Nigerian states.

The nurse and the three others tested positive less than a week after a pregnant woman died at the facility just before her result came out positive.