国际英语新闻:Sub-Saharan Africa reports more COVID-19 cases amid stronger countermeasures

NAIROBI, March 15 (Xinhua) -- Sub-Saharan Africa reported more novel coronavirus (COVID-19) cases on Sunday amid stronger countermeasures against the pandemic.

South Africa is the worst hit country in the region as the number of people with the coronavirus climbed to 51 on Sunday after 13 more people were tested positive, according to the Health Minister Zweli Mkhize.

Seven cases were detected in Gauteng, five in Western Cape and one in KwaZulu-Natal. All of the patients were tested positive after visiting European nations, with one person travelling to Iran, according to Mkhize.

Ghana has announced some restrictions concerning international travel as the country announced four additional COVID-19 cases on Sunday, bringing the total number of the confirmed cases to six.

Except for Ghanaian citizens and persons with Ghana residence permits, no person who has been to countries with more than 200 COVID-19 cases would be allowed into the country, said Ghana's Minister for Information Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah at a press briefing on Sunday.

Besides, those allowed into the country are requested to self-quarantine for 14 mandatory days, with guidelines for self-quarantine issued at the entry points, said the minister.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Sunday confirmed two new cases of coronavirus, bringing to three the number of confirmed cases of the deadly novel COVID-19.

Kenyatta who addressed a televised news conference in Nairobi said two new cases originated from the 27 persons who had made contacts with the first victim that had traveled from the U.S. and whose case was confirmed on Friday.

Kenyatta announced drastic measures aimed at containing the spread of the COVID 19 including restricting travel to Kenya from all countries with reported coronavirus cases.

"Only Kenyan citizens to be allowed into Kenya provided they go to self-quarantine or government facility. In force for 30 days," Kenyatta said.

He said all persons who have come to Kenya in last 14 days must self-quarantine, noting that all schools will be suspended with immediate effect.

Cote d'Ivoire reported confirmed three new cases on Saturday night, bringing the number of people infected in the country to four, according to the Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene on Sunday.

They are patients of Cote d'Ivoire nationality, two of whom are male, aged 33 and 49, and a female aged 56, said the Minister of Health, Eugene Aka Aouele in a statement.

The Ethiopian Ministry of Health on Sunday reported three more confirmed COVID-19 cases after the East African country on Friday reported its first confirmed COVID-19 case, a 48-year old Japanese national, eventually increasing the total number of confirmed cases to four.

"Based on the tracing, we have found three more additional patients that have become positive for COVID-19. The three cases include two Japanese citizens aged 44 and 47, and one is Ethiopian aged 42," the Ethiopian health minister Liya Tadesse disclosed in a statement on Sunday.

The Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Sunday said his country has formed partnership with Chinese e-commerce giant, Alibaba Group to boost the fight against COVID-19 virus.

"Ethiopia has great appreciation to Jack Ma (founder of Alibaba) for distributing up to 20,000 COVID-19 testing kits and more than 100,000 masks to the east African country," said Ahmed in a statement.

Namibian capital city Windhoek on Sunday announced that they have temporary closed city parks and recreation facilities for the next 30 days after the southern African country reported two confirmed case on Saturday.

Though without a single confirmed case, the government of Tanzania has set five special zonal hospitals as a response measure to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hassan Abbasi, the Chief Government Spokesperson, said on Sunday the special zonal hospitals have been specially established for suspected cases of the virus.

He said the setting up of the special zonal hospitals went in tandem with other preparedness measures, including provision of thermal screening facilities at all entry points, including ports and airports across the country.