Virus cases ramping up in Africa, which is racing to prepare
![CORRECTION - A Kenyan man walks with a protective face mask on a street in Nairobi, Kenya, on March 13th, 2020. - Kenya and Ethiopia on March 13, 2020, announced their first confirmed cases of the COVID-19 coronavirus, as East Africa, which has so far been unscathed by the global pandemic, scaled up emergency measures to contain its spread. (Photo by - / AFP) / “The erroneous mention[s] appearing in the metadata of this photo by - has been modified in AFP systems in the following manner: [BYLINE should be -] instead of [Yasuyoshi Chiba]. Please immediately remove the erroneous mention[s] from](https://i.dawn.com/primary/2020/03/5e6bca68e8b5f.jpg "CORRECTION - A Kenyan man walks with a protective face mask on a street in Nairobi, Kenya, on March 13th, 2020. - Kenya and Ethiopia on March 13, 2020, announced their first confirmed cases of the COVID-19 coronavirus, as East Africa, which has so far been unscathed by the global pandemic, scaled up emergency measures to contain its spread. (Photo by - / AFP) / “The erroneous mention[s] appearing in the metadata of this photo by - has been modified in AFP systems in the following manner: [BYLINE should be -] instead of [Yasuyoshi Chiba]. Please immediately remove the erroneous mention[s] from")
Cases of the new coronavirus are ramping up in Africa, with six new countries announcing confirmed infections in the past 24 hours, AP reports.
Across Africa, 16 of the continent's 54 countries have now registered COVID-19 cases. The majority of these cases are imported, authorities say.
African countries only began reporting cases in February, and most have been imported by travelers from Europe and the US. On Friday, Kenya, Guinea, Sudan and Ethiopia reported their first cases, while Gabon and Ghana did so late Thursday.
