New Zealand, Nigeria, Belarus Among Countries Reporting First Coronavirus Cases
Posted on February 28, 2020
The coronavirus (Covid-19) continues to be an unwelcomed guest around the world. New Zealand, Nigeria, Lithuania and Belarus are among countries recently reporting their first cases.The spread into sub-Saharan Africa (Nigeria) has been of particular concern to the World Health Organization (WHO). The Guardian notes that the WHO is concerned about it spreading through Africa's "fragile health systems." The patient is at the Infectious Disease Hospital in Yaba, Lagos.
The Nigeria patient is an Italian citizen who had return from Italy. The New Zealand had recently traveled to Auckland from Iran via Bali. The Belarus case is linked to Iran and the Lithuania case is linked to Italy.
Many countries have been reported cases that have involved traveled to Italy or Iran in recent days. The CDC currently has travel advisories for both these contries as well as China, South Korea and Japan. The CDC also recently updated its testing criteria to include travelers from these countries. The criteria act as a guide for local health departments to follow when making coronavirus testing decisions. The updated criteria also includes cases of fever with severe acute lower respiratory illness requiring hospitalization where there is no recent travel history or alternative explanatory diagnosis (such as the flu).
The number of cases outside mainland China is approaching 5,000 according to the chart on BNO News.
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