Coronavirus in Africa: Egypt gets its second case of the deadly infection

Egypt has reported its second case of the novel coronavirus, officially known as COVID-19.
This new one comes more than two weeks after Egypt's first suspected infection was announced.

A new case of the coronavirus has been confirmed in Egypt.

The Egyptian Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization (WHO) reported the news in a statement issued early Monday, March 2, 2020.

This is the second case of the virus to be discovered in Egypt after the first was reported over two weeks ago.

According to the authorities, a foreigner tested positive for the virus and is currently being treated at an isolation facility.

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Without specifying the nationality, the healthy ministry spokesman Khlaed Megahed said, "The ministry has taken preventative measures and is monitoring the patient... who is stable."

Egypt's President, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, has called for stricter health control at Egypt's ports of entry. He also ordered for awareness campaigns to be launched across the country.

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Coronavirus in Africa

Over the weekend, Algeria had two new confirmed cases; a 53-year-old woman and her 24-year-old daughter.

Africa News reports that the patients are in isolation in Blida province south of the capital, Algiers. Algeria currently has three confirmed cases of the coronavirus.

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Meanwhile, Kenya has suspended all flights from China and the president, Uhuru Kenyatta, has issued a directive calling for the completion of an isolation centre at Mbagathi Hospital in Nairobi within seven days and a 21-member task force.

“Kenya is a major international transport hub, with 70 percent of international passengers in transit, and there is a significant threat arising from the spread of the coronavirus to Kenya from countries that have new and ongoing outbreaks of the pneumatic disease,” the president said in his Executive Order Number 2 of 2020.

As of today, the global death toll from the outbreak has surpassed 3,000.