NO ESCAPE

Coronavirus Spreads to Sub-Saharan Africa and New Zealand

The WHO previously warned that a mass outbreak across Africa would be dangerous due to its “fragile health systems.”

The list of countries hit by the deadly coronavirus got even longer Friday after New Zealand and Nigeria confirmed their first cases. The Nigerian case is the first in sub-Saharan Africa—the World Health Organization has previously warned that a mass outbreak across Africa could pose a serious threat due to “fragile health systems” across the continent. Egypt and Algeria, both in the north, previously confirmed cases. WHO chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, warned Thursday that the coronavirus outbreak is at a “decisive point globally” and that it could “get out of control” if affected countries did not move quickly to contain it. The Nigerian government said the infected person is an Italian citizen who worked in Nigeria and had recently returned from Italy, which is suffering Europe’s worst outbreak of the deadly disease. New Zealand health officials said its first case has been seen in recent arrival from Iran. Meanwhile, global markets plummeted again when they opened Friday morning, a day after the Dow Jones suffered its biggest ever one day fall amid the growing virus panic.