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Coronavirus: Cape Verde’s first case, Togo index patient recovers

Village Reporter

The coronavirus was confirmed in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late December 2019. Cases have since been confirmed in over scores of countries across the globe.

The World Health Organisation, WHO, has since declared it a pandemic. WHO chief Tedros Ghebereyesus said whiles China had a robust health system to detect and control, his outfit remained concerned about the virus entering country’s with weak systems.

With about 34 African countries currently with recorded cases, governments continue to roll out increasingly robust measures to halt the spread and to contain the pandemic which has claimed a number of lives.

Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that range from the common cold to MERS coronavirus, which is Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus and SARS, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus.

In this article, we will share the latest developments as authorities implement measures to contain the spread of the virus, especially on the African continent. There is a flurry of restrictions across Africa as governments take measures to deal with the outbreak.

SUGGESTED READING: rolling coverage of the coronavirus outbreak in Africa II

  • Cases in South Africa jump to 202
  • Togo index patient recovers
  • Gabon records death
  • Cape Verde records index case
  • Niger records index case
  • Nigeria shuts all universities
  • 760+ cases, 17 deaths, 49 recoveries
  • South Africa, Nigeria record increases
  • Mauritius records first cases
  • Africa could be having unreported or underreported cases – WHO boss
  • Zambia, Djibouti, Gambia record index cases
  • Zimbabwe declares COVID-19 national crisis, outlines measures
  • Ethiopia, Kenya record new cases
  • Flurry of restrictions across the continent
  • Nigeria, Rwanda, Burkina Faso record new cases
  • Ethiopia – Ali Baba coronavirus support
  • Ethiopia records jumbo figure in contact tracing
  • Flights banned, borders closed
  • Thirty African countries infected

SUGGESTED READING: rolling coverage of the coronavirus outbreak in Africa I

COVID-19 LIVE updates, WHO website

Cape Verde records index case, Togo patient recovers

Cape Verde confirmed its first coronavirus case on Friday in a government statement. “The patient is a 62-year-old British citizen who entered the country on March 9 and began showing symptoms on March 16,” the statement said.

Over in Togo, the index patient is said to have recovered (tested negative) but is still under medical observation, state TV quotes the health minister as saying.

The West African nation is now dealing with eight other confirmed cases. Health Minister Moustafa Mijiyawa has asked travellers from high-risk countries “to exhibit the highest sense of responsibility and patriotism” and work with the authorities to curb the spread of the virus.

He urged the Togolese to “stay calm and not panic” but to follow strict crowd control measures put out by the government.

Meanwhile South Africa’s cases from 150 as at Thursday has reached 2020, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize confirmed on Friday. South Africa has consolidated second most infected on the continent only after Egypt with 210.

Cases in Africa rising

As at March 20, the WHO’s COVID-19 website record showed that cases on the continent was heading for the 800 mark. Of particular concern is cases in South Africa that have been leaping, at last count at 150 only behind Egypt/

Burkina Faso has entered the top four with 40 cases dislodging Tunisia’s 39 whiles Senegal has now reached 38 cases. Records indicate that some 69 people have also recovered. The highest being 32 people in Egypt.

Seventeen people have died with the most recent case being in Algeria. The country has recorded seven deaths, Egypt has six, Morocco with two and Burkina Faso and Sudan with one each.

On Thursday, Nigeria’s federal government ordered all universities to be shut amid fears that the pandemic could spread. Primary and other schools had been shut at the state and federal levels whiles places of worship had also been asked to remain closed.

Niger is the latest country to record an index case. It leaves Mali, Sierra Leone, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau in the privileged bracket of unaffected West African countries.

“We have just registered this Thursday March 19, 2020, our 1st clinical case of #Coronavirus at #Niger . I invite all of my fellow citizens to keep calm. I urge you to respect all preventive measures. Insha’Allah, together we will overcome this ordeal,” President Mahammadou Issoufou said in a tweet.

Case spike in South Africa, increase in Nigeria

South Africa now has 150 confirmed cases, 24 more from the last tally of 126 according to the disease control outfit. The country is now the second most impacted only behind Egypt.

Over in Nigeria, four more cases have been recorded in the commercial capital Lagos, according to local media outlets. The overall toll will come to 11 with the new cases. Ghana has also reached 11 confirmed cases as of today.

Cameroon meanwhile has asked 195 passengers who arrived in the capital Yaoundé on an Air France plane flight on 17 March to self-quarantine for 14 days.

The appeal comes after three people on Air France flight number AF 900 tested positive for Covid-19. Cameroon now has 10 cases of Covid-19, the respiratory illness caused by coronavirus.

Mauritius infected, 16 death overall

Mauritius on Wednesday confirmed its first three cases of coronavirus. Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth who led a cabinet meeting on the pandemic late Wednesday said the three have been placed in isolation.

Two of the three cases involve cruise ship workers aged 21 and 25, while the third is a traveller from the UK aged 59. He said the government was tracing all the people the British traveller had come into contact with.

The government has closed all schools and borders points of the Indian Ocean island nation. It has also banned commercial flights and tourists for the next two weeks, beginning on Thursday, March 19.

Meanwhile the death toll in Africa has reached sixteen according to figures by the BBC. Six each in Algeria and Egypt, Two in Morocco and one each in Sudan and Burkina Faso.

Africa could be underreporting figures

“You know as of today (March 18), the number of cases reported from sub-Saharan Africa are 233 cases and four deaths, that is actually in terms of confirmed cases, it is the lowest region.

“But as Mike said, we cannot take this number as the amount of, or the number of cases we have in Africa, probably we have undetected cases or unreported cases. But in addition to that, even if we take this 233 cases as true, we have to prepare for the worst.

“In other countries we have seen how the virus actually accelerates after a certain tipping point. So the best advice for Africa is to prepare for the worst and prepare today. It is actually better if these numbers are really true, to cut it from the bud.

“And that is why we are saying we have to do the testing, we have to do the contact tracing, we have to do the isolation and cut it from the bud,” the words of Ethiopian Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization.

He was speaking on Wednesday March 18 in the WHO’s daily press briefing on the coronavirus pandemic.

He stressed the need for mass gatherings to be avoided because of the propensity of aiding quick spread of the virus. “I think Africa should wake up, I think my continent should wake up,” he added.

The Gambia, Djibouti, Zambia records first case

Djibouti’s Foreign Minister confirmed the country’s first coronavirus case which involved a member of a Spanish military contingent that entered the country recently.

He confirmed that the group have been isolated and were under medical supervision. None of them had contact with the Djiboutian people since entry.

The country is undertaking formalities that will allow for the contingent to be sent back to Spain within the shortest possible time. In the Horn of Africa region, Ethiopia and Somalia have all recorded cases. Sudan and Kenya have also done same.

A day after the Zambian authorities imposed wide ranging measures which included banning public gatherings and closing school, the first two cases were recorded according to a local news portal, Mwebantu.

The case involves a Zambian couple who arrived in the country on March 15 after a 10-day holiday in France aboard Emirates Airline, Health Minister Chitalu Chilufya said in a statement.

They were screened at the Kenneth Kaunda Airport and asked to under go self-quarantine because on arrival they showed no symptoms.

Whiles in quarantine, the husband reported symptoms following which authorities were notified and a test carried out on the couple returned positive.

The Gambia recorded its first coronavirus case yesterday in a statement by the health minister. The country becomes the 31st to be infected in Africa.

The case involved a young woman who flew in from the United Kingdom. All passengers on the flight she came in with are being traced, authorities confirmed.

Gambia’s only neighbour Senegal has also been greatly impacted by the pandemic with close to thirty confirmed cases. President Macky Sall last week announced a raft of measures that included ban on public gatherings and closure of schools.

The Gambia has yet to announce such measures which most African countries – affected or virus-free – are implementing as preventive or containment measure.

Zimbabwe outlines coronavirus measures

Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria record new cases

On Tuesday morning, Nigeria reported its third case in Lagos of a Nigerian lady who last travelled to the United Kingdom.

Kenya also reported a news case bringing its tally to four. The latest case was confirmed today at the National Influenza Centre Laboratory. The patient is reported to have travelled from London, United Kingdom on 8th March, 2020 arriving in the country on 9th March, 2020, a statement read.

In Ethiopia, Health Minister Lia Tadesse, said a new positive case involved a British diplomat who had entered Ethiopia from Dubai. She was self-isolating when the case was brought to the attention of the authorities. She is the sixth case for the country. Contact tracing is underway.

President Uhuru Kenyatta has also slated Saturday March 21, 2020 as a “Day of Prayer” as the country turns to God to seek his intercession in the midst of the pandemic.

The president stressed that Kenya has historically used prayer to seek divine intervention during hard times. The session will however take place at the State House and the media are to carry it live on their platforms to allow all Kenyans to participate.

The statement from State House read in part: “… we also turn to God to share our fears, our apprehensions, but also to seek his guidance and ever-present protection.

“With this in mind and after consulting a cross-section of ordinary Kenyans as well as our religious leaders, I have decided to declare this coming Saturday, 21st March 2020, as a National Day for Prayer.

“In consideration of the protocols that we announced on Sunday and other ongoing protocols that will be announced from time to time, I have thought it necessary that this day of prayer be observed in our homes, in our places of work or wherever we shall be residing on that day.

“This prayer day will be led by a team of religious leaders here at State House, Nairobi starting at 12.00 noon on Saturday.”

Flurry of restrictions, cases increasing

A number of African governments are announcing restrictions aimed at preventing the rise in coronavirus cases in their territories. From the closure of borders and the suspension of flights to banning of public gatherings and even in the case of Sudan declaring a state of emergency.

We pool together the major restrictions and measures by different governments:

Sudan: The Sovereign Council in Sudan has declared a state of emergency to help control the coronavirus pandemic. The country has only a case which has resulted in the death of the patient in question.

The council “decided to close all airports, land and sea border crossings, except to humanitarian aid,” spokesman Mohammad al-Fakki Suleiman told journalists. State news agency Suna quoted a military spokesman as saying that cadets and trainees would be given leave as a precaution.

Tunisia: The North African country announced it will be closing its land borders and airspace to all commercial activities from Wednesday, in a bid to protect the country from the spread of coronavirus.

Health officials say the number of confirmed cases has risen to 24. The latest announcement by Prime Minister Elyes Fakhfakh comes three days after a 16:00 curfew was announced for restaurants, cafes and bars.

All commercial flights are to be cancelled, but arranged evacuation flights will be permitted. Trade and cargo will not be affected by these measures.

Ivory Coast: The country via an announcement by President Alassane Ouattara on Monday evening announced a temporary ban on foreign visitors especially those from countries hard-hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

The ban only applies to countries that have more than 100 confirmed cases, the authorities said in a statement on Monday. This includes the US, France, the UK and most of Europe.

For the next 15 days, only Ivorian nationals and permanent residents of the country will be permitted to enter from abroad following a mandatory two-week quarantine on arrival.

The security council headed by President Alassane Ouattara also ordered the closure of all schools and universities from Tuesday for a period of 30 days.

Chad: Despite being virus-free, Chad on Monday announced suspension of all flights effective midnight of March 19, 2020 in an official government statement.

Only cargo planes will be allowed to land at N’Djamena International Airport. Earlier reports said government quarantined a group of French passengers who arrived Sunday. Chad remains the sole Central African country unaffected.

Botswana and Zambia who are also virus-free have announced a series of measures similar to what most African countries have in place.

All schools, colleges and universities in Zambia to close indefinitely this Friday in response to the pandemic. The announcement has been made by the country’s minister of health, Dr Chitalu Chilufya. Zambia yet to report a confirmed case.

Zambia missions abroad have been directed to review visa applications for would-be travelers to Zambia. Foreign travel to high risk countries should be be postponed.

Buses from outside Zambia will not dock at the usual station—the InterCity—but at a dry port. This is to ensure a thorough screening of passengers. Isolation centers have been identified in different parts of the country.

Bars and churches will have restricted hours of operation. The southern African country has so far investigated 28 alerts but results have been negative.

Rwanda, Burkina record new cases

Rwanda and Burkina Faso have recorded increase in their tallies. Rwanda confirmed two new cases of coronavirus bringing the total number to seven.

The country’s ministry of health says of the two, one is a Rwandan woman whose husband had earlier tested positive. The other patient is a German who arrived in Rwanda from Germany on 13 March, then developed a cough and went to the hospital on 15 March.

Authorities in Burkina Faso also said five new cases had been recorded putting the overall tally at fifteen according to the WHO’s coronavirus tracking site.

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