Coronavirus: DR Congo to quarantine travelers from Europe

The government of DR Congo will quarantine people who travel to the country from Europe in a drastic bid to curtail the spread of the coronavirus.

This was after the country confirmed its first case of the disease, a Belgian man who had flown into Congo from his country. He has since been placed in quarantine.

Congo’s Health Minister Eteni Longondo reported the confirmation via local news media.

Longondo added that the country will take the preemptive measure of quarantining people from Belgium, France, Italy and other parts of Europe and the world where Congo believes the coronavirus is widely reported.

Travelers who go to Congo from these parts will be quarantined for 14 days. If they show symptoms of the coronavirus, they will be transferred into an “isolation facility” managed by the health ministry.

DR Congo has so far communicated its strategies to the countries that have been identified.

The central African country has in recent memory suffered a worse health crisis with Ebola outbreaks. Ebola killed thousands of people in DR Congo and the country has only recently brought infections and loss of lives under control.

Throughout the world, over 100,000 people have contracted the coronavirus which was first reported in Wuhan, China in late 2019.

Also known as COVID-19, the coronavirus has a 3.4% fatality rate, killing mostly older people and the immunocompromised. Meanwhile, there is no vaccine for the flu-like disease.

Asia, particularly China, is the worst affected with over 3,000 deaths reported. Italy is the worst-hit country outside of Asia.

What seems strange to many experts is that coronavirus infection rates are lower in Africa than any other place.