Sierra Leone confirms its first coronavirus case

The Sierra Leonean government on Tuesday March 30, announced its first coronavirus case. President Julius Maada Bio made the annoucement in a nationwide broadcast.

The coronavirus case is a  37-year-old man who traveled from France on March 16 and had been in isolation since.

Bio said;

“When I did my first coronavirus press conference, I said that it was not a matter of if, but when. Well, ‘when’ has come."

The country just became the 48th African country to record a case as well as the last in West Africa to do so. The government had announced the latest leg of measures which included that schools and other learning institutions throughout Sierra Leone will close today, indefinitely.

In Africa,  Lesotho, South Sudan, Yemen, Burundi, Malawi and the region of Western Sahara are the only countries yet to announce any coronavirus cases.