Cameroonian Student in China Contracts Coronavirus

A 21-year-old Cameroonian student in China has become the first African known to be diagnosed with the deadly coronavirus.

In a statement, Yangtze University said the student was being treated in hospital in southern Jingzhou city after contracting the illness while on a visit to Wuhan city, the epicentre of the outbreak.

He had returned to Jingzhou, where he lived, on 19 January, before a lockdown was imposed in Wuhan to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, which has killed more than 200 people.

The BBC’s Killian Ngala reports from Cameroon’s capital, Yaoundé that the case has renewed concerns about the safety of some 300 Cameroonians quarantined in Wuhan with little access to water, food and surgical masks.

In its statement, the university said: “The university has provided psychological comfort to the student and has reported the situation to his parents and the embassy. 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 good spirit and a healthy appetite and his vital organs are stable.”

Thousands of African students study in China. They have made desperate appeals to their governments to evacuate them or to give them more support while they are trapped in Wuhan.

Last week, Cameroonians in Wuhan wrote a letter to President Paul Biya, saying their embassy in Beijing had been largely uncooperative and they were short of basic necessities.