Burkina Faso has confirmed its first two cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday as the second death from the disease in Africa was recorded in Morocco on the same day.
The two cases in Burkina Faso are that of a couple. The West African country’s health minister, Claudine Lougue, said the wife had recently returned from France.
The minister added that the couple had since been quarantined in a local hospital in Ouagadougou, the country’s capital city.
A third person who was in close contact with the couple, according to reports, is being quarantined.
Nine African countries have now confirmed cases of the virus. They are Egypt, Algeria, Nigeria, Tunisia, Senegal, Morocco, Cameroon, Togo, and Burkina Faso. Egypt has the highest number of cases with 55, followed by Algeria with 19.
Nigeria has reported two cases, Tunisia 2, Senegal 5, Morocco 4, Togo 3, and Burkina Faso 2.
Morocco is the second African country to record a death by the virus.
Morocco’s health minister confirmed the death which happened in Casablanca on Tuesday.
The said patient, an 89-year-old Moroccan woman, entered Morocco from Italy’s Bologna, the ministry said in a statement. It said she suffered from “respiratory and heart diseases.”
According to Reuters, Morocco has canceled all trips to and from Italy, banned fans from attending football matches and events involving foreign travelers, and cancelled gatherings of more than 1,000 people as “precautionary measures to avert an outbreak of the virus.”
There is a total of 93 cases in Africa.
Globally, there are more than 110, 000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, more than 4,000 deaths and 64,750 recovered cases, according to Worldometer.
