The world is currently facing one of its worst health crisis which was first detected in China in December 2019 called CoronaVirus. The virus quickly spread to other parts of the globe with fears that it may soon ravage the entire African continent due to inadequate medical facilities.
Egypt recorded her first case on 14 February 2020, first on the African continent while Nigeria recorded the first case in Sub-Saharan Africa.
With several African countries already affected, only five are yet to record their first cases- South Sudan, Malawi, Lesotho, Comoros and Soa Tome and Principe.
According to TRTWorld, these are the few African countries that are yet to record the virus by April 2, 2020.
These countries, many health observers say are yet to register cases because some are yet to carry out the test or lack test kits.
“Sao Tome and Principe, a tiny nation of small islands, has reported zero cases because it is unable to test,” World Health Organization representative Anne Ancia stipulated.
Similar claims pushed Malawi’s health ministry spokesman Joshua Malango to wave aside stating “We have the testing kits in Malawi and we are testing.”
Lesotho, bordered all round by Coronavirus infected South Africa, last monday closed it borders as preventive measures against Covid-19.
A medical doctor in the Comorian capital, Moroni, Dr Abdou Ada, wondered if the seeming lack of infection is due to the wide use of the drug Artemisinin to treat malaria.
“I believe that the mass anti-malarial treatment explains the fact that the Comoros are, at least for now, spared from Covid-19. It is a personal belief that needs to be confirmed scientifically,” Dr Abou told Africa News.
According to the Africa Centre for Disease Control, there are now more than over 6,400 confirmed cases of coronavirus across the continent, with a number of African countries imposing a range of prevention and containment measures against the spread of the pandemic.
_By Macwalter Njapteh_
