The investigation of a cluster of cases of pneumonia by Chinese health authorities
in December, 2019, in Wuhan City, Hubei province, China, identified a novel coronavirus
(severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 [SARS-CoV-2]), as the causative agent.1
During the subsequent worldwide spread, SARS-CoV-2 first arrived on the African continent
in February, 2020, with cases identified in Egypt and Algeria.2 As of July 20, 2020,
over 600 000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported in member states of the
WHO African region.
Source: www.thelancet.com