By Juliette Jabkhiro and Aaron Ross
DAKAR, March 3 (Reuters) - Senegal's health ministry said a
second person who flew to the West African country from France
last week tested positive for coronavirus on Tuesday, taking the
total number of cases in sub-Saharan Africa to three.
The latest patient, an 80-year-old man from the Sarcelles
suburb of Paris, arrived in Senegal on Feb. 29 and presented
himself at a hospital in the capital Dakar on March 2.
"His clinical status is stable and all efforts have been
taken to identify those he was in contact with," the ministry
said in statement, without giving further details.
Senegal confirmed its first case on Monday and another case
of coronavirus was confirmed in Nigeria last week. The Senegalese health ministry has said it is tracking down
the first patient's fellow passengers on the Air Senegal flight
from Marseilles to Dakar that landed on Feb. 26 and is
monitoring his wife and two children.
Ousmane Faye, the head virologist at Dakar's Pasteur
Institute, said 10 to 15 other cases tested yesterday had all
come back negative.
Faye said the first patient, quarantined in the capital's
Fann Hospital, had a benign form of the virus and he was
confident he would survive.
The rapid spread of the new coronavirus worldwide has
increased fears of a pandemic, prompting governments to step up
control measures.
As of Tuesday, there were more than 90,000 cases globally,
with more than 80,000 in China, and infections in 77 other
countries and territories, according to a Reuters
tally.
Senegalese President Macky Sall announced a $2 million
emergency response plan late on Monday, according to local
media. The health ministry said it was working with religious
leaders to promote hygiene measures ahead of a series of
domestic pilgrimages scheduled in March.
On Tuesday morning, people went about their usual business
in the oceanside capital of over 2 million, though stocks of
hand sanitiser and masks were running low in some pharmacies.
One was rationing face masks to five per customer.
Many people had purchased masks a week earlier when strong
northerly winds from the Sahara Desert created a dust cloud over
the city.
Ibrahima Tobe, an IT manager, said he noticed some subtle
changes.
"Everybody is talking about it and the basic preventative
measures are being put in place," Tobe said. "I came to my
office this morning, no one wanted to shake hands with me."