Uganda has sent home nearly two dozen foreign nationals amid rising fears of coronavirus spread.
The Health minister Dr Ruth Aceng said on Sunday that at least 22 foreigners, who would be sent back to their home countries, had been unwilling to self-quarantine for two weeks.
Most of the visitors had arrived for the Uganda-Europe Business Forum, which started on Monday.
“We received 22 passengers who were identified by our health workers at the airport. None of them exhibited signs and symptoms of Covid-19. We informed them about our procedure of self-quarantine for 14 days. However, they were not willing to undergo this self-quarantine. Today, they will return to their home countries,” said Dr Aceng on Sunday.
Currently, Uganda has no confirmed or suspected case of Covid-19.
Uganda’s stance came just hours after a German tourist died on Sunday of the novel coronavirus in eastern Egypt, the first death from the epidemic recorded in Africa.
"The 60-year-old German citizen showed symptoms of a fever (and) checked into Hurghada hospital on 6 March before testing positive for Covid-19," Egypt’s health ministry said in a statement.
The tourist, who had arrived from Germany a week earlier, died after refusing to be transferred to an isolation ward.
More than 4,000 people have died and over 110,000 have been infected by coronavirus worldwide as it spread across 100 nations and territories since it broke out in China in December.
Africa has reported nearly 100 confirmed cases in 10 countries. Most of the affected regions are North and Western Africa. So far, Eastern Africa has not reported any coronavirus case.
Unlock a world of exclusive content today!Unlock a world of exclusive content today!
