Nigeria, 6 nations see first cases of Covid-19

Nearly 60 countries hit by the virus; Africa at risk

Lagos, Feb. 28: Nigeria reported the first new

Covid-19 case in subSaharan Africa on Friday, tanked on deepening fears of a pandemic and the World Health Organization (WHO) warned against the “fatal mistake” of complacency.

The list of countries hit by the illness edged toward 60 with Mexico, Belarus, Lithuania, New Zealand, Azerbaijan and the Netherlands reporting their first cases, along with Nigeria.

Belarus reported Friday its first coronavirus case, an Iranian student who arrived in the country from Azerbaijan last week. The health ministry said the patient was in a “satisfactory” condition.

People the student had been in contact with since their arrival on February

22 had been placed in quarantine in the hospital for infectious diseases in Minsk, it added.

The first case of the novel Covid-19 in the Netherlands was detected on Thursday, in a patient who had travelled to northern Italy, the worsthit area in Europe, the national public health institute announced.

The public health body advised everyone in the country to be careful to avoid more infections. New Zealand confirmed its first Covid-19 case, saying a recent arrival from Iran who travelled to Auckland via Bali had tested positive.

Health officials said the person, aged in their 60s, was being treated in Auckland City Hospital.

“They are in an improving condition in isolation, in a negative pressure room to prevent any spread of the disease,” the health department said.

Lithuania confirmed its first case of the Covid-19 in a woman who returned from Italy, the government said on Friday.

The 39-year-old, who returned from Verona, has been isolated in hospital in the Baltic state’s northern city of Siauliai and has mild symptoms. Her family members are being monitored.

“We are putting all efforts to establish all people who contacted the infected person so that we can adopt preventive measures and (stop) the spread of the virus,” deputy health minister Algirdas Seselgis said.

The virus has proliferated around the globe over the past week, emerging in every continent except Antarctica, prompting many governments and businesses to try and stop people travelling or gathering in crowded places. The virus has killed more than 2,800 people and infected over 83,000 worldwide — the vast majority in China — since it emerged from a suspected animal market in a central Chinese city in late December.

The number of new deaths and infections has been tapering off in China, following unprecedented quarantine efforts locking down tens of millions of people in the worst-hit cities. But infections elsewhere have started to surge, with Iran, Italy and South Korea becoming the major snew hotspots and cases being confirmed in more than 50 countries. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Thursday the world was at a “decisive point” and countries could still contain the epidemic if they “act aggressively now.” “No country should assume it won’t get cases; that could be a fatal mistake, quite literally. This virus does not respect borders,” Tedros said in Geneva.

The WHO has voiced particular concern about Africa’s preparedness, warning at the weekend that the continent’s health care systems were illequipped to respond to the Covid-19 epidemic.

China reported 44 more deaths on Friday, raising its toll to 2,788, with 327 new cases. — Agencies