BREAKING: 2nd COVID-19 case in Africa occurs in Algeria

South Africa has Thursday, confirmed a case of Coronavirus in the country, making it the third sub-Saharan country to report the epidermic.

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South Africa Health Minister, Dr Zweli Mkhize made this disclosure in statement, confirming that the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NCID) confirmed a positive test.

It was gathered that the port at which the patient came into the country through is yet to be identify, however, Mkhize stated that a tracer team has been deployed to KwaZulu-Natal. The man is now self-isolated.

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“The patient is a 38-year-old male who travelled to Italy with his wife. They were part of a group of 10 people and they arrived back in South Africa on 1 March.

“The patient consulted a private general practitioner on 3 March with symptoms of fever, headache, malaise, a sore throat and a cough,” Mkhize said in the statement.

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Meanwhile, a breakdown on the development shows that, Senegal has reported four case, Algeria 17, Morocco one, Tunisia one, Egypt three while Nigeria has a case, to date. Sub-Saharan Africa is considered high risk for an outbreak because of its close ties to China and weak health care infrastructure in many countries.

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South Africa President, Cyril Ramaphosa, said that the spread of the coronavirus to South Africa will have a huge impact on travel and a negative impact on the already struggling South African economy.

“We will keep informing South Africans openly and transparently about a number of steps we will be taking because this will turn out to be a national crisis,” the president said.

“It will have a huge impact on travel, and a negative impact also on our economy,” he added.

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