Coronavirus: Cameroonian student in China first African victim

A Cameroonian student in China is the first confirmed African to test positive to the Novel Coronavirus.

Yangtze University, the institution where he studies, confirmed in a statement that the “21-year-old was being treated in a hospital in southern Jingzhou city, China.”

The statement read that the student, identified as Pavel Daryl, contracted the disease while visiting the city of Wuhan, China – the centre of the outbreak, where there are more than 20,000 confirmed cases and 425 reported deaths.

Today, according to CNN, there are more than 24,500 people across 25 countries infected, with a death toll of 492.

After his visit to Wuhan, he returned to Jinzhou where his place of residence is, in January. He began to show symptoms of the virus and was then admitted.

The student has been provided “psychological comfort” by the university, who has also updated his family on the situation.

“At present, the student is actively cooperating with the treatment in the hospital. His body temperature has been normal for two consecutive days. He has a good spirit and a healthy appetite and his vital organs are stable,” the statement further read.

According to The Guardian, more than 80,00 African students are in China, hundreds of those students have been caught in the lockdown of Wuhan city.

Many of these students are calling out for an evacuation from the city as they lack key supplies such as water, food and surgical masks.

The Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Zhou Pingjian, in a media briefing that was held on Monday in Nigeria’s capital city, Abuja, said that sixty Nigerians are trapped in Wuhan.

Nigerians in China, have repeatedly called out to the Nigerian Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) to evacuate them, a request which they said has fallen on deaf ears.

PREMIUM TIMES reported last week that no plans had been made to evacuate Nigerians in China.