NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 13 – Ethiopia’s Health Ministry Friday confirmed the country’s first coronavirus case, the second in East African region after Kenya.
The ministry confirmed a positive case through its twitter handle urging the country’s 105 million citizens to observe basic hygiene.
“Let us step up and maintain precautionary measures. Now is the time. Frequent hand washing is key,” the ministry stated.
The patient who tested positive was identified as a 48-year-old Japanese citizen who arrived in Ethiopia on March 4 from Burkina Faso.
Ethiopia has since put in place a disease surveillance program since the outbreak of COVID-19 in China.
Kenya government confirmed the first coronavirus case in the country on Friday.
Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said a 27-year-old Kenyan student who arrived from the United States on March 5 tested positive on Thursday, March 12.
The World Health Organization had earlier declared the virus a pandemic, with more than 118,000 cases in 114 countries and 4,600 deaths.
The virus which exploded in China’s Wuhan City in Hubei Province has claimed 4,600 lives with over 126,000 people infected globally out of whom 67,000 have recovered.
China, which suffered the brunt of the outbreak has since managed the situation, with very minimal new cases reported lately.
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