DR Congo has confirmed its first coronavirus case in the capital Kinshasa, the third most populous city in Africa, the health ministry said on Tuesday.
The patient is a Belgian citizen who has been in the country for several days, Health Minister Eteni Longondo said.
“He is confined to a hospital,” the minister said. “We are tracking people who came into contact with him so that they too can be placed in quarantine, and tested.”
Kinshasa, which has a population of more than 10 million people, is served by direct flights from Brussels and Paris.
Passengers have their temperature taken upon arrival and must fill out a medical questionnaire.
DR Congo officials have drafted “a strategic national plan” to deal with the new coronavirus, the head of the national biological research institute, Jean-Jacques Muyembe, said Monday.
The Democratic Republic of Congo hopes to declare next month an end to a 19-month Ebola epidemic that has killed 2,264 people, as no new cases have been discovered for three weeks.
