Chad has registered its first case of COVID-19 this Thursday, local news site Alwihda Info quoted Chadian Presidency as saying.

The case is a passenger of Moroccan nationality from Douala, Cameroun.

The patient is already being taken care of by the medical service, according to a statement of the presidency, without giving further details.

Before the first case was detected, the Chadian government had closed the country’s international airports from Wednesday, to stop the spread of the virus.

Vanguard earlier reported that around 640 COVID-19 cases have been reported in 34 African countries so far, the Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) disclosed on Thursday.

Speaking in Addis Ababa, John Nkengasong, Africa CDC Director, said, “In Africa we now have around 640 COVID-19 confirmed cases coming from 34 countries.

“The death count in Africa is currently 16 from five countries.

“Those 16 deaths are distributed among Algeria, Burkina Faso, Egypt, Morocco and Sudan,” said the Africa CDC Director. Nkengasong said the number of African countries with confirmed cases of COVID-19 has dramatically increased in less than a week, a testament to the dangerous nature of the pandemic.

Source:- Xinhua/NAN