Health authorities in Lagos, Nigeria confirmed the countries first case of the new Coronavirus.
It is the first known case of a patient contracting the Covid-19 disease in sub-Saharan Africa. So far on the continent, only Egypt and Algeria have reported individual cases.
Lagos state's commissioner for health, Akin Abayomi, said the patient was an Italian citizen from Milan who arrived in Nigeria earlier this week for a business visit.
The case, which was confirmed on the 27th of February 2020, is the first case to be reported in Nigeria since the beginning of the outbreak in China.
The department has called a media briefing in its headquarters in the capital Abuja.
According to the World Health Organisation, globally, more than 80,000 people in nearly 50 countries have been infected. Nearly 2,800 have died, the majority in China's Hubei province.
-African News Agency (ANA)
