Senegal records first coronavirus case - Reports

Senegal has become the second country in sub-Saharan Africa to record a coronavirus case, health minister, Abdoulaye Diouf Sarr said on Monday at a press conference in the capital, Dakar.

The Minister said the victim in question was a French national who entered the country aboard an Air Senegal flight on February 26. Nigeria is the other sub-Saharan African country with a positive case.

The patient according to authorities lives in Senegal and flew back from France. He reported to a private hospital on 27 February with symptoms including a headache.

The authorities are monitoring everyone who travelled on the same flight as well as the patient’s family. The Minister underscored the country’s preparedness for the situation.

Senegal was one of few countries with the facilities to test for the virus very early on, along with South Africa and Ghana. The World Health Organization, WHO, has since boosted the capacity of a number of countries to test.

Egypt meanwhile, the first African country to record a case, just recorded its second coronavirus case. The country’s Health Ministry made the announcement on Monday.

It said in a statement that the patient is a foreigner, but did not specify their nationality. The patient, who tested positive for the coronavirus with minor symptoms, has been quarantined at a hospital in Negeila, in the north of the country, the statement also said.

This is the second case recorded in the country of 100 million people. The first was declared cured on 27 February. Egypt’s Health Minister said Sunday that 1,443 people had so far been tested for the coronavirus.

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has ordered stricter health control measures at the country’s ports in an attempt to combat the coronavirus.

Nigeria and Algeria are the two other African countries which have reported cases of the coronavirus, which has infected more than 89,000 people across 58 countries.