Senegal has just recorded a second case of coronavirus less than 48 hours after the first case was confirmed. The announcement was made Tuesday, March 3, 2020, by the Ministry of Health.

The patient is a French resident aged 80 years, living in Sarcelles, in the Paris suburbs, who arrived in Senegal on February 29, 2020. The man was confirmed following a medical consultation on March 2, 2020 at the Roi Baudoin Hospital and then transferred to the infectious diseases department of the Fann Hospital.

Along with Nigeria, Senegal is the second country in sub-Saharan Africa to be affected by the new coronavirus, while the epidemic seems to be spreading a little faster in North Africa with new cases in Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco.

The next few days will provide information on the evolution of the situation, faced with a virus that has a particularly long incubation time (14 days on average, with a suspicion of contagion without symptoms; which significantly complicates containment measures).
Although Africa is less touched by the virus than the other continents, its weak health systems raises concerns about the capacity of its countries to respond to the crisis.

Moutiou Adjibi Nourou