20 countries in Africa report over 150 cases

Tanzania President John Pombe Magufuli greets guests at the launch of a military facility in Dar es Salaam on Friday. (Reuters)

Rwanda yesterday confirmed its first case of Covid-19, a day after Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan, Guinea and Ghana announced that patients in their countries had tested positive for the coronavirus.

There are now more than 150 cases of the virus in 20 African countries, according to the latest figures from the World Health Organisation.

The continent is still largely spared the worst of the virus. There are 136,895 cases worldwide in 123 countries, and 5,077 patients have died. 

The only two deaths reported in Africa are in Egypt, which has the highest number of cases at 67, and Sudan.

Sudan on Friday said after tests, a citizen who had arrived from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and been hospitalised after showing symptoms of the virus had been infected.

Other African countries that reported cases of the disease are Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Senegal, Togo, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), South Africa, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Gabon and Ghana.

In the last 24 hours, seven African countries have confirmed first cases of coronavirus.

Among the countries is Guinea, which announced it had quarantined a Belgian national who travelled to France and Belgium and arrived in the country on the March 3. Others are Ghana, Gabon, Sudan, Kenya and Ethiopia.

Similarly, there was a French connection to Gabon’s first confirmed case. A 27-year-old Gabonese national who arrived in the country from France on March 8 tested positive.

The DRC confirmed a second case of the virus. Officials from the country’s Health ministry told reporters the patient was a 46-year-old Cameroonian national who arrived in Kinshasa from France on March 8.

Ivory Coast also has a case of a 45-year-old citizen who recently returned from Italy. Togo has quarantined a 42-year-old patient who recently arrived in the country, following a trip to Benin, Germany, France and Turkey.

And Cameroon said a 58-year-old French citizen who arrived in the country on February 24 tested positive.

Ethiopia said on Friday that a 48-year-old Japanese who arrived in the country from Burkina Faso had tested positive.

Rwanda’s case was of an Indian citizen who jetted into the country on March 8.

Senegal reported six more cases on Friday, bringing the total cases to 16. The country’s health officials said the new cases had all been in contact with an Italian national diagnosed on Wednesday. Namibia has confirmed two cases of coronavirus from a couple who arrived in the country from Spain. Cases of local transmission have happened in South Africa, Senegal and Algeria.

In South Africa, a 32-year-old man in Free State is reported to have contracted the virus after coming into contact with a Chinese businessman. As the virus moves from being a threat to the continent to a reality, countries are scrambling to prevent further spread.