A case of contamination with the new coronavirus, an Italian national, was confirmed Thursday in Nigeria, the first in sub-Saharan Africa, the Federal Ministry of Health announced Friday.
The ministry “confirmed a case of coronavirus (Covid-19) in the state of Lagos. This case, which was confirmed on February 27, 2020, is the first to be identified in Nigeria since the start of the epidemic, ”he said on Twitter.
The ministry specifies that it is about an Italian national working in Nigeria and who returned to this country from the Italian city of Milan on February 25.
Hospitalized in Lagos, “the patient is in a stable clinical state and does not present any worrying symptoms”, assured the ministry.
This is the first confirmed contamination in sub-Saharan Africa. Two other cases have been recorded in recent days in two North African countries, Egypt and Algeria. No deaths have so far been reported on the continent.
This very low number of cases detected in African countries, with fragile health systems, intrigues epidemiologists.
