NAIROBI/BRUSSELS/MUMBAI: Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan and Guinea all confirmed their first cases of the new coronavirus on Friday, giving the disease a foothold in 18 countries on the African continent.
Africa had so far largely been spared the rapid spread of COVID-19, which has infected at least 127,000 and killed 4,700 worldwide.
Most of Africa’s reported cases were foreigners or people who had travelled abroad. Rapid testing and quarantines have been put in place to limit transmission.
Cases have been reported in Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria, Senegal, Togo, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa, Nigeria, Cote D’Ivoire, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Sudan, Kenya and Ethiopia.
Kenyan Health Minister Mutahi Kagwe said their first case, a 27-year-old Kenyan, was diagnosed on Thursday after travelling home via London on March 5.
The Ethiopian case was a 48-year old Japanese national who arrived in Ethiopia on March 4, the health ministry said.
Sudan’s first confirmed coronavirus case was a man who died on Thursday in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, the Health Ministry said. He had visited the United Arab Emirates in the first week of March.
FIRST DEATH IN INDIA
Two Indian states ordered the closure of public buildings,
malls, cinemas and pubs in
several major cities on Friday,
with Mumbai and Bengaluru subject to differing restrictions, after the country reported
its first death from the
coronavirus.
With just 74 confirmed cases of the virus and a single death, India has so far fared better than elsewhere in Asia, Europe and North America.
But experts say India’s already overstretched medical system would struggle to deal with a major rise in serious cases.
A 76-year-old man from Karnataka state became the first person to die from the virus in India, authorities said late on Thursday.
PAKISTAN TO SHUT BORDERS
Pakistan will shut all land borders and limit international flights for 15 days to halt the spread of coronavirus, its foreign minister said on Friday.
“It has been decided that all borders will remain closed for 15 days,” minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told the local ARY and Dunya TV networks. “International flights will operate only out of Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad airports.” Pakistan also announced a countrywide shutdown of all educational institutions over fears of coronavirus spread.
EU PROMISES ITALY HELP
The EU executive on Friday unveiled a raft of measures to protect the European economy from the coronavirus outbreak, and promised it would do whatever it takes for hardest-hit Italy.
The assurances by EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen came a day after ECB head Christine Lagarde stoked fury in Rome by implying that shoring up Italy’s precarious financial situation was not her job.
Von der Leyen said the commission, the EU’s powerful bureaucracy, would try to provide Italy with whatever support it needs to overcome the challenge of the coronavirus.
“Whatever is necessary, we support. Whatever they will need, we will answer,” von der Leyen, a close ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, told reporters.
— Reuters/AFP
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