Egypt confirms coronavirus case, the first in Africa. The country’s health ministry says the affected person is a ‘foreigner’ who is hospitalized and in isolation.
Egypt has confirmed its first case of a deadly coronavirus that emerged in central China at the end of last year and has since spread to more than two dozen countries around the world.
“A foreign person has tested positive for the coronavirus … The case is stable and did not show any symptoms,” Khaled Mujahid, spokesperson for the health ministry, said in a statement.
Officials were able to confirm the case through a follow-up program implemented by the government for travelers arriving from countries where the virus has spread.
The ministry statement said the person was hospitalized and in isolation. It did not specify the person’s nationality or their point of entry.
The development made Egypt the first country in the African continent to report a confirmed case, and the second in the Middle East region, after the United Arab Emirates late last month diagnosed its first cases.
‘Grave threat’
Officially known as COVID-19, the virus was first detected in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province in central China, in December last year.
It has so far killed more than 1,500 people and infected nearly 66,894 others globally and 7,820 people have recovered.
Three deaths have been recorded outside mainland China – one in Hong Kong, one in the Philippines and the most recent in Japan.
More than two dozen countries have confirmed cases and several nations have evacuated their citizens from Hubei.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned the virus poses a “grave threat” to the world.