- Coronavirus: First Case Confirmed in South Africa
South Africa on Thursday joined the list of African nations with a known case of Coronavirus after Nigeria and Senegal reported their first cases.
South Africa’s Health Minister, Zweli Mkhize, said the patient was a 38-year old man, who returned from Italy with 9 other people on March 1 after a brief vacation.
The said patient started experiencing fever shortly after and immediately commenced self-isolation before reporting to a nearby hospital where he tested positive to the fast-spreading coronavirus.
The virus has killed more than 3,300 people globally with more than 96,000 people infected. South Africa had put in place a structured isolation center to contain the virus, however, it took two months for the virus to hit the well prepared South Africa.
Experts have said while South Africa and Nigeria may be able to contain the spread of the virus, small African nations with poor health systems may struggle to curb the spread of coronavirus. Hence, why Kenya Airways and RwandarAir suspended flights to China, Italy, etc until further notice.
Meanwhile, South African economy plunged into recession in the fourth quarter of 2019, according to the country’s statistics department. The second of such in two years.
The economy contracted by 1.4 percent as agriculture, manufacturing, trade, transport and communication sectors contracted during the quarter. This new report of coronavirus, if not tamed, could hurt new investments and job creation, especially with nations and airlines enforcing restrictions to prevent their citizens from getting infected and contain the spread of the virus.
Nigeria, Senegal, Egypt and Algeria have all confirmed their first cases of the virus.
