Cote d'Ivoire confirms first case of coronavirus

Cote d'Ivoire on Wednesday confirmed its first case of the novel coronavirus, becoming the 12th African country affected. According to the country's health ministry, the patient is a 45 year-old Ivorian man who had recently traveled to Italy.

While addressing a press conference, Eugene Aouele, Cote d'Ivoire's health minister, said that the patient is in stable condition in a hospital in Abidjan, the country's commercial capital.

While calling on everyone to respect preventive measures already in force, Aouele called for calm while urging preparedness for the disease. Back in January, Cote d'Ivoire was the first country in Africa to record a suspected case, which turned out negative.

The case in Cote d'Ivoire comes just hours after Eteni Longondo, the Democratic Republic of Congo's minister of health, confirmed on Tuesday that the first positive case of the novel coronavirus had been discovered in the capital, Kinshasa.

According to Longondo, the patient is a Congolese citizen who lives in France and returned home on March 8 with no symptoms of the virus. He added that the patient and others who had contact with him have been placed in quarantine.

So far, Egypt, Algeria, South Africa, Tunisia, Morocco, Senegal, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon and Togo, are the other countries that have confirmed positive cases of the virus in Africa, with Egypt having the highest number of cases, at 67 confirmed. The latest case in Cote d'Ivoire puts the total number of confirmed infections in Africa at 134.