Angola: Country reports first two deaths from Covid-19

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Angola: Country reports first two deaths from Covid-19

12:22 CAT | 30 Mar 2020

File photo: Lusa

Angola has reported the first two deaths of people infected with the Covid-19 virus and the number of positive cases has risen to seven, Health Minister Silvia Lutucuta said.

The two Angolan citizens died on Saturday, she said, at a press conference on Sunday in Luanda, the country’s capital.

One, a 59-year-old citizen, habitually resident in Portugal, had arrived in Angola on 12 March.

“He had been hospitalised in the last few days at the Girassol clinic and had a very rapid evolution, with respiratory failure,” said Silvia Lutucuta, explaining that the patient had other associated diseases.

The second case, a 37-year-old Angolan citizen, living in Luanda, arrived from Lisbon on 13 March and was hospitalised for a week.

Silvia Lutucuta said that 370 samples with seven positive results have been processed so far, with 21 being in processing.

The health minister said travellers coming on flights from high-risk countries are being screened.

Currently, 1,089 people are in institutional quarantine throughout the country, 547 of them in the province of Luanda.

The state of emergency is still in force, said the head of the health department, appealing again for the awareness of Angolans, so that the transmission chain can be cut now.

“Staying at home is the best solution,” she said.

The new coronavirus, responsible for the Covid-19 pandemic, has already infected more than 667,000 people around the world, of whom more than 31,000 have died.

Of the cases of infection, at least 134,700 are considered cured.

The number of deaths caused by Covid-19 in Africa has risen to 134 with cumulative cases approaching 4,300 in 46 countries, according to the latest pandemic statistics update.

Several countries have taken exceptional measures, including quarantine and border closures.

Source: Lusa