5 cases of suspected coronavirus detected in Botswana

The government of Botswana has reported four new suspected cases of coronavirus after the first was reported on Thursday, 30 January.

According to SABC News, a statement by Botswana’s Ministry of Health and Wellness said that ‘all 5 cases were registered at the Sir Seretse Khama International Airport’. The 5 suspected cases were identified at different times and the five people have been isolated at a health facility and are awaiting laboratory results.

‘The Botswana Ministry of Health says the specimens have been sent to the regional reference laboratory in South Africa. The Ministry has emphasised that the individuals with suspected cases presented symptoms of upper respiratory tract infection such as fever, coughing, fatigue and headaches.’

This comes after Reuters reported on Sunday 2 February that Thai doctors claimed they ‘have seen success in treating severe cases of the new coronavirus with a combination of medications for flu and HIV, with initial results showing vast improvement 48 hours after applying the treatment’.

The condition of several patients under the care of doctors from Rajavithi Hospital in Bangkok had improved, including a 70-year-old Chinese woman from Wuhan, where the viral strain originated.

The treatment includes a mixture of anti-HIV drugs ritonavir and lopinavir with large doses of the flu drug oseltamivir.

‘This is not the cure, but the patient’s condition has vastly improved. From testing positive for 10 days under our care, after applying this combination of medicine, the test result became negative within 48 hours,’ said Dr. Kriangska Atipornwanich, a lung specialist at Rajavithi.

The first potential case of coronavirus in Africa was reported in the Ivory Coast; however, after testing it was discovered that the patient did not carry the virus.

Since then three other African countries have reported that they are investigating suspected cases of coronavirus: Kenya, Ethiopia and Botswana.

Last week Ethiopia reported that the three suspected cases tested negative for the virus. Kenyan news outlet The East African reported that two people with high fevers were quarantined in capital Nairobi on Sunday 2 February, ‘while a third person was isolated in a hospital in the coastal region over coronavirus fears’.

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