Tanzania, Somalia confirm first cases of Coronavirus

Tanzania has confirmed its first case of coronavirus, Gerald Chami, a spokesman at the Ministry of Health has said.

Somalia also confirmed its first positive coronavirus case on Monday, a Somali woman who had returned to the country from abroad.

The government has consequently suspended all international flights starting Wednesday.

Tanzania and Somalia are the latest African countries to report new infections.

An outbreak of novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) that began in Wuhan, China, has spread rapidly, with cases now confirmed in multiple countries. 

Kenya confirmed its first case of infection on Friday last week. 

The Kenyan Government has since reported two more cases of the virus and issued measures to citizens to prevent further infections.

The additional two are said to have contracted the virus from being in contact with patient zero, a 27-year-old woman who had travelled to the country from the USA through London.

Globally, 170,051 people have tested positive for the deadly virus that has claimed 6,525 lives in 140 countries outside China.

Atleast 77,778 people have successfully recovered.

29 African countries have reported confirmed cases making a total of 285 coronavirus positive patients.

Africa has recorded six deaths: Two in Egypt, Two in Algeria, one in Morocco and one in Sudan.

Other countries in Africa that have reported infections include;  Algeria (48) South Africa (51), Senegal (24), Cameroon (3), Nigeria (2), Burkina Faso (7), Togo (1), DRC Congo (3), Cote d'Ivoire (5), Ghana (2), Gabon (1), Kenya (3), Ethiopia (4), Guinea (1), Rwanda (5), Namibia (2),  Guinea (1), Seychelles (2), Liberia (1), Egypt (110), Morocco (28) and Tunisia(18).

Algeria and Egypt reported their second deaths from the novel coronavirus late Thursday.

The World Health Organization's situational reports indicate the number of countries affected in Africa increases swiftly as infections continues to soar globally.

China now has  80,851 cases of infection and 3,199 deaths at least 66,931 people have recovered.

WHO reports indicate new cases of infection are reported more outside China.