LESOTHO, the last African country to be affected by coronavirus, on Wednesday announced it has detected its first case of COVID-19.
The virus was detected on an individual among 81 people who were tested after arriving last week from Saudi Arabia and neighboring South Africa, the health ministry said in a statement.
“The Ministry of Health informed the Basotho nation and the entire community living in Lesotho, that the country now has the first confirmed case of COVID-19,” Director-General Nyane Letsie said.
The patient is a Lesotho national studying in Saudi Arabia.
Lesotho went into lockdown on March 29 to protect itself from a potential spread of the virus from South Africa, which entirely surrounds the kingdom and has the highest number of confirmed cases on the continent.
Prime Minister Thomas Thabane loosened the restrictions on May 6 allowing “all non-essential services and enterprises to temporarily open shop”.
There are now more than over 70,000 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.
African COVID-19 data
- Confirmed cases = 72,391
- Number of deaths = 2,493
- Recoveries = 25,269
- Infected countries = 54
- Virus-free countries = 0
Source AFP and AfricaNews