AFRICA – Angola, Eritrea and Uganda are the latest African states to confirm their first cases of the coronavirus.
Uganda’s Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng on Saturday said the confirmed case is a 36-year-old Ugandan male who arrived from Dubai at 2am on Saturday, March 21 on an Ethiopian Airlines. He had a high fever and poor appetite.
“During the screening process at the airport, his temperature was 38.7. This prompted the health teams to isolate him at the airport for further follow-up. Subsequent temperatures taken at intervals of 30 minutes and one hour remained the same. He was evacuated to Entebbe Grade B Hospital for further follow up where a nasal swab was taken for analysis,” Fr Aceng said in a statement.
Earlier, President Yoweri Museveni had ordered a lockdown of air transport in Uganda.
“No passenger planes will be allowed to land in Uganda or leave. Only cargo planes and their crew members will be allowed in the country. Meanwhile, those sneezing should keep away from the public,” President Museveni said in an address on Covid-19 situation in Uganda.
In Angola, the case involves two male nationals who flew back from Portugal on March 17-18, Health Minister Silvia Lutucuta said on Saturday.
In Eritrea, Information Minister Yemane Meskel said its first case was a 39-year-old national who had arrived from Norway.
“The Ministry of Health announced this evening the first confirmed case of a Coronavirus patient who arrived at Asmara International Airport from Norway with Fly Dubai at 7am this morning. The 39-year old patient is an Eritrean national with permanent residence in Norway,” Meskel said on Saturday.
He added that the patient was quarantined following the screening process at the airport.
“He was diagnosed positive for Covid-19 after subsequent tests at the National Laboratory. The patient is receiving all necessary treatment at the moment,” Eritrea’s Ministry of Health said.
Zimbabwe reported its first case on Friday, and a second on Saturday, while the island of Mauritius, with 14 cases, reported its first death, a person who had travelled from Belgium via Dubai.
Rwanda, which has 17 confirmed cases, on Saturday announced a lockdown in a bid to contain the deadly virus
More than 1,000 cases have now been reported across Africa, according to the World Health Organisation.
