Somalia suspends flights after one confirmed case of coronavirus

Somalian Transport Minister, Mohamed Abdullahi Omar has suspended all flights to the country from Monday soon after the health department confirmed the first coronavirus case, according to a news report by Garowe Online.

He said that this is in line with fighting the disease, which has caused havoc throughout the world.

Health Minister, Dr. Fawziya Abikar said that Somalia becomes the latest East Africa nation to record a positive case for coronavirus.

In a press conference, Abikar said that the victim was among four people who have been isolated in Mogadishu for some time now, after their trip to China, which has recorded the highest number of coronavirus cases.

The victim had entered the country from China via Addis Ababa aboard Ethiopian airlines, authorities confirmed, in the latest tragedy which has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO).

"We have saddened to report to the country that we have discovered one positive case for coronavirus," Fawziya said.

She added, "the positive case was identified after quarantining four citizens who had jetted in from China. The other three are safe but will be monitored for a while."

For several weeks now, screening had been identified in major airports across the country to minimize cases of infections. On Sunday, the country issued a NOTAM to pilots cautioning them from airlifting people from affected countries.

Also, the country has banned the entry of people who have visited Coronavirus-infested countries in the last 14 days.

So far, over 150 countries have recorded positive cases, with over 140,000 infections also reported. Of that number, 65,000 have recovered but 5,000 have been reportedly died.