As coronavirus disease (COVID-19)  spreads rapidly across Africa, the Ministry of Health, World Health Organization (WHO), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other partners have taken the necessary steps to mitigate the risk and interrupt the transmission of COVID-19.  

South Sudan confirmed its first COVID-19 case on 5 April 2020. As of 10 April 2020, four cases of COVID-19 have been reported. The country continues to face a huge burden of communicable disease outbreaks. 

Maputo – 8th, April 2020 – Mozambique has registered seven (7) new positive cases for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the last 24 hours, increasing the total number of confirmed cases to seventeen (17), in which nine (9) are local transmissions, announced the Ministry of Health of Mozambique.

Bauchi, 08 April 2020 - “We are empowered and ready to engage in COVID-19 surveillance and contact tracing,” says Abubakar Suleiman, one of 205 disease surveillance officers originally trained by WHO to identify outbreaks of polio across six states in northeast Nigeria. Across the country, Polio health staff and infrastructure are rapidly being repurposed towards the COVID-19 response, which includes identifying suspect COVID-19 cases, and tracing all potential contacts to contain its rapid spread.  

08 April 2020 — Five (5) new CoVID_19 cases were identified today, out of 772 samples tested in the last 24 hours. This brings the total number of confirmed cases to a hundred and ten (110), of whom 7 have recovered and been discharged.
•    Four (4) contacts of previously confirmed positive cases, who were identified through tracing.
•    One (1) frequent traveler

Gaborone, Botswana - 9 April 2020: Botswana’s parliamentarians were shocked this morning when the Minister of Health and Wellness announced to them that they will all be quarantined in Gaborone. This was after it emerged that one of the nurses providing screening services at parliament tested positive to COVID-19. According to the Minister, the results were received at 11pm last night.

07 April 2020 — No new CoVID_19 case was identified today, out of 806 samples tested. The total remains a hundred and five confirmed cases (105), of whom seven (7) have recovered, and been discharged.

All patients are under treatment in stable condition in designated health facilities. The majority are asymptomatic, and no patient is in critical condition. 

06 April 2020 — One (1) new CoVID_19 case was identified today, bringing the total to a hundred and five confirmed cases (105), of whom four (4) have recovered and been discharged.
•    One (1) contact of previously confirmed positive case, who was identified through tracing.

 
The new case has been isolated and the tracing is ongoing. All patients are under treatment in stable condition in designated health facilities. The majority are asymptomatic, and no patient is in critical condition. 

Abuja, 7 April 2020 – He turned up with flu-like symptoms at a medical centre in Ogun state in the southwest of Nigeria. Dr Amara Allison, who was on duty, examined the patient and ordered that he be isolated immediately. She had just diagnosed Nigeria’s first COVID-19 patient. Along with four health workers and 35 other people who had been in contact with the country’s index case, Dr Allison was placed on a 14-day quarantine. She recounts her experience staying indoors for a fortnight. 

Being quarantined is quite kaleidoscopic.