ASMARA, May 18 (NNN-AFRICANEWS) — Eritrea has officially declared itself virus-free after all 39 patients successfully recovered from COVID-19.
A Ministry of Health statement said the 39th patient had been discharged from hospital as of Sunday.
As of May 8, there were only two active cases, one of which was discharged on the 11th before Sunday’s final recovery and discharge.
This result means that all 39 confirmed cases in the country to-date have recovered fully.
Eritrea follows the likes of Mauritania and Mauritius who have recorded full recoveries. Mauritania have since recorded new cases.
Eritrea is also among a handful of African countries that have not recorded deaths as of May 15, others are Madagascar, Central Africa Republic, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, Lesotho, Rwanda and Uganda.
One patient has recovered fully after standard tests at the National Laboratory and was released from hospital today.
Separately, Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta banned movement across the country’s borders with Tanzania and Somalia to help curb the spread of the coronavirus.
He exempted cargo trucks but said drivers would have to be tested for COVID-19.
Kenyatta said authorities had so far prevented 78 truck drivers from neighbouring countries, including Tanzania and Somalia from entering Kenya after they tested positive for COVID-19.
“There will be a cessation of movement of persons and any passenger-ferrying automobiles and vehicles into and out of the territory of Kenya through the Kenya-Tanzania international border,” Kenyatta said in a televised address.
The same measures would apply on the border with Somalia, he said.
Kenyatta also extended by 21 days an existing dusk-to-dawn curfew and a ban on movement in and out of areas of Kenya worst hit by the Coronavirus outbreak.
Kenya first imposed restrictions of movement in and out of the capital Nairobi, Mombasa, Kilifi and Kwale on the Indian Ocean coast and Mandera in the northeast in April.
The east African nation has also imposed bans on public gatherings, large funerals and shuttered schools.
Kenya has 830 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, with 50 deaths. — NNN-AFRICANEWS
