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The Ministry of Health announced that the first case of Covid-19 was found on a Japanese man, Thursday night. The person arrived in Ethiopia on 14 March from Burkina Faso and showed symptoms three days ago, said Liya Taddese, Health minister.
The man traveled from Japan to Burkina Faso on 23 February and arrived in Addis Ababa on 4th March. Five days later, he went to a medical center after he observed symptoms of the virus. The Public Health Institute received information about the person. And the task force led by the institute made the medical diagnosis after he was taken to quarantine. The result proved that the person was infected with the novel coronavirus.
Liya, on her press release, said that works had been undertaken to identify and quarantine those people who had close contact with the person.
“We should all avoid hand contacts and unnecessary meetings, ” wrote Takele Uma, Mayor of Addis Ababa, on his Twitter account.
Burkina Faso confirmed cases of coronavirus three days ago. While the virus spread to Japan on January 23, infecting 684 people and twenty-six people have died.
Ethiopia became the 16th country in Africa to confirm the disease, which has been declared as a pandemic by the World Health Organization on Thursday. It has infected 165 people, so far, and Egypt and Morocco registered four deaths, each having two.
