"WHO has identified 13 priority countries in the region, which due to their direct connections or large volume of travel to China, need to be particularly vigilant about the coronavirus (2019-nCoV)", reads a statement from the organization, which lists, in addition to Angola, Algeria, Ivory Coast, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
"Since 22 January, WHO has received dozens of alerts regarding possible infections in 20 countries", announced the organization, noting that "until the beginning of the week there were only two laboratories, one in Senegal and the other in South Africa, able to test samples and work together with countries in the region".
Meanwhile, WHO experts add, four other countries have announced that they already have the capacity to test samples and diagnose cases of infection - Ghana, Madagascar, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, but WHO will still send "kits to 29 laboratories in the region, the that will ensure that there is diagnostic capacity for the new virus and that they can also conduct analyzes on samples from neighboring countries".
Treatment at an early stage of the infection is vital to avoid the rapid spread of contagion, which could overwhelm the region's fragile health systems, warns the WHO.
China raised the balance of the coronavirus (2019-nCoV) pneumonia outbreak last December in Wuhan, capital of central Hubei province, to 563 dead and more than 28,000 infected.
In the last 24 hours, there were 73 deaths and 3694 new cases.
