Coronavirus, a deadly disease recently recorded in central China has cracked the walls of Africa through Egypt as confirmed on Friday night by The World Health Organization. This happens to be the first case recorded in the history of Africa.
According to a statement issued by Khaled Mugahed, spokesperson of Egypt’s Health Ministry, the person who tested positive happens to be a foreigner. The Health Ministry did not disclose the identity of the victim as officials assure proper measures are being put in place to control the outbreak.
The patient is reported to be carrying the virus but did not show any serious symptoms and has now been hospitalized and in isolation.
.@WHO confirms first #COVID19 case in Egypt, after official confirmation by Egyptian Ministry of Health & Population. @WHOEgypt & @mohp_gov_eg are collaborating closely in outbreak investigation & response actions.
# of confirmed cases in @WHOEMRO Region to date:
UAE: 8
Egypt: 1 pic.twitter.com/00PFDrWzdD— WHO EMRO (@WHOEMRO) February 14, 2020
Coronavirus first emerged in the City of Wuhan in China few months ago but has since spread with speed to others cities and countries with thousands of reported cases and hundreds of deaths which is very alarming.
Victims often suffer from respiratory illness and this new strain of coronavirus was not previously identified in humans.
Until Friday Africa only recorded suspected cases with experts worried if the continent is ready to fight the spread.
According to the World Health Organization, Basic personal hygiene and hand washing are essential to help prevent the spread of disease.
Basic personal hygiene and hand washing are essential to help prevent the spread of disease. Wash your hands! #COVID19 #2019nC0V pic.twitter.com/iKIEcj73YT
— World Health Organization Western Pacific (@WHOWPRO) February 14, 2020
WHO’s head of emergency operations in Africa, Michael Yaw, has discovered that some countries in Africa “have the minimum to start with – they’re not starting from scratch”.
“We know how fragile the health system is on the African continent and these systems are already overwhelmed by many ongoing disease outbreaks, so for us it is critical to detect earlier so that we can prevent the spread.”
The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation is supporting Africa with $5 Million to support the continent’s Centres for Disease Control and Prevention to fight current outbreak of coronavirus.
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Authorities need to handle this first case so well because we all that Africa is NOT ready for this fight as acknowledged by Michael Yaw