Congo Coronavirus Case Brings Sub-Saharan African Total to 19
Sub-Saharan Coronavirus Cases Climb With Four More in S. Africa
(Bloomberg) --
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in sub-Saharan Africa climbed to 19, with five countries in West Africa now treating patients for the disease.
The Democratic Republic of Congo became the seventh sub-Saharan African nation with people found to carry the virus after a Belgian man who had arrived on Sunday in the capital, Kinshasa, was placed in quarantine. The announcement was made Tuesday by Health Minister Eteni Longondo on Radio Okapi.
Congo just discharged its last patient with Ebola and hopes to be able to declare the end of a devastating outbreak by April. The Ebola epidemic killed 2,264 people in the east of the country.
Late Monday, Burkina Faso said it had its first two cases in a wife and husband who had returned from an evangelical conference in France on Feb. 24. The 73-year old man is one of the West African country’s best-known pastors.
In South Africa, four additional cases were reported on Monday, bringing the total to seven, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said in Johannesburg. In Nigeria, the health authorities announced a second case.
The new patients in South Africa and Nigeria are linked to so-called index cases -- the first instances of people contracting the virus that were announced in Nigeria on Feb. 28 and in South Africa on March 5. Authorities in both countries have intensified efforts to prevent the virus from spreading, including tracing people who’ve come in contact with the index cases on airline flights from Italy.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari established a presidential task force to control the spread of the disease. The team will be headed by Boss Mustapha, a key Buhari aide.
Other cases of the illness have been reported in Togo, Senegal and Cameroon.
--With assistance from Mike Cohen and Michael J. Kavanagh.
To contact the reporters on this story: Janice Kew in Johannesburg at jkew4@bloomberg.net;Simon Gongo in Ouagadougou at sgongo@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Paul Richardson at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net, Pauline Bax, Chris Kay
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