Africa CDC Confirms 102 COVID-19 Cases

Addis Abeba, march 10/2020 (ENA)The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) confirmed today that there are about 102 cases of COVID-19 in ten African countries, with one death.

Africa CDC Director, Dr John Nkengasong told journalists that the countries affected by coronavirus are Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Togo, and Tunisia.

According to him, the Africa Taskforces for Coronavirus (AFTCOR) is currently working actively, and responding to the requirements of member states.

“We are shifting slowly from preparedness to response as the virus is spreading in several African countries,” he added.

Furthermore, the director stated that Africa CDC has distributed testing kits capable of testing over 10,000 kits, and emergency medical items including thermal scanners and other critical medical supplies to meet the requests from member states.

Hundreds of representatives of member states have also been trained in enhanced surveillance, infection prevention and control, risk communication and case management.

As of today, some 43 laboratories from 43 African countries have participated in training organized by Africa CDC. Each laboratory received kits containing reagents to conduct at least 200 tests during the training, Dr Nkengasong added.

Applauding the efforts of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for its active support to respond to the outbreak, the director pointed out that Africa CDC still needs not only domestic financial support, but also support from partners.

“We are in negotiations with the World Bank to secure additional resources,” he said, adding that other partners are working with Africa CDC to respond to the crisis of coronavirus.  

More than 100,000 coronavirus cases are confirmed worldwide since the outbreak of the disease.