Two suspected cases of coronavirus in Sudan

The Sudanese Ministry of Health says that two people suspected of being infected by the coronavirus, have been identified by monitors at Khartoum airport.

At a press conference on Wednesday, Health Minister Akram El Tom that the two people concerned, on from Khartoum and another from El Gezira, arrived via Ethiopian Airlines and Egypt Air from China.

He confirmed that the infection cases were identified through the precautionary follow-up and monitoring measures in place at Khartoum Airport.

The Ministry of Health has set up seven checkpoints to monitor the movement of people entering the country as part of precautionary steps to prevent the coronavirus* from entering the country. About 21 travellers from China were already screened and examined on Saturday, 20 of them in Khartoum and one from El Gezira State.

On Monday, during a meeting with the Undersecretary of the Ministry of health, Sarah Abdelazim, the High Committee for monitoring the coronavirus confirmed setting up seven checkpoints as precautionary measures.

The checkpoints are at Khartoum Airport, Port Sudan Airport, and Port Sudan Port as well as four other checkpoints in the Northern State and two isolation centres in Khartoum Hospital and the airport.

China

Chinese health authorities said yesterday that there are 7,711 confirmed cases in the country as of 29 January.

Infections have now also spread to at least 15 other countries.

The World Health Organization (WHO) will meet today to consider again whether the virus constitutes a global health emergency.

Various countries have implemented evacuation and quarantine plans for nationals wanting to return from China, where the outbreak began in the city of Wuhan.

Russia has decided to close its 4,300km far-eastern border with China in an attempt to stop contagion.

Coronavirus: According to the WHO, Coronaviruses (CoV) are a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV). A novel coronavirus (nCoV) is a new strain that has not been previously identified in humans. Coronaviruses are zoonotic, meaning they are transmitted between animals and people. Detailed investigations found that SARS-CoV was transmitted from civet cats to humans and MERS-CoV from dromedary camels to humans. Several known coronaviruses are circulating in animals that have not yet infected humans.