Coronavirus-free Chad shuts borders, airports

Amid the spread of coronavirus, Chad which has no record of the disease has shut its borders and airports.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), 27 African countries have recorded 347 coronavirus cases, the latest being Benin, Liberia, Somalia and Tanzania.

The Chadian government announced on Monday that it would shut its airports to all flights for two weeks over fears of the virus.

It said only planes transporting goods are exempted from the decision.

South Africa, Morocco, Somalia, Senegal, Togo,  Madagascar, among other African countries have taken action to restrict flights, among other measures to prevent the spread of the virus.

This is contrary to what is happening in Nigeria where three confirmed coronavirus cases have been recorded.

Despite the spread of the disease to more countries, the federal government said last week that it would not impose travel restrictions on any country over coronavirus.

But the senate had asked the federal government to consider banning non-Nigerian travellers from countries with high risk of COVID-19.

Countries like China, Saudi Arabia, Italy, the United States, Isreal, India, and Uganda have restricted travelling into their countries from nations considered as high risk.

There are over 118,000 cases of the virus globally and more than 6000 deaths recorded.

WHO had declared coronavirus outbreak a pandemic and urged all countries to activate and scale up their emergency response mechanisms to prevent the spread of the virus.