Cairo (AFP)

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday welcomed in Cairo "enormous progress" made in the management of the epidemic of new coronavirus since its appearance in December in China.

"We have made huge progress in a short period of time," said director of emergency measures in the eastern Mediterranean, Richard Brennan, at a press conference by the WHO regional office in Egypt.

While more than 74,000 people - 99% of them in China - have been infected in 26 countries, the threshold of 2,000 deaths has just been reached.

"You can diagnose the virus everywhere now" and "effective health systems" have been put in place, said Ahmed al-Mandhari, WHO regional director.

However, it is "too early to say that the virus has been contained," said Dr. Brennan.

At the same time, the Egyptian Ministry of Health and the WHO announced on Wednesday that the only case of new coronavirus recorded on the African continent, registered in Egypt last week, had been the subject of a new negative test. the.

This assumes that the patient is no longer carrying the virus, but a WHO official then told AFP that he could not officially be declared cured until after the 14 days of quarantine.

The continent cannot therefore be considered to be free of the virus, not to mention the fact that other carriers may not yet have been spotted, he added.

On February 14, a foreign national was diagnosed with Covid-19 in Egypt and placed in quarantine, in a hospital in the north of the country.

At the beginning of February, Cairo suspended the flights of its national airline Egyptair with China until the end of the month.

About 300 Egyptians were evacuated in February from Wuhan, the epicenter of the Chinese city, and placed in quarantine for 14 days.

Cairo, like several African capitals, maintains strong commercial links with Beijing and is equipped with dilapidated medical infrastructures.

Dr. Brennan also warned of false information about the Covid-19 circulating on social networks.

"There is no evidence that (the virus) was produced in the laboratory or as a biological weapon," he said, referring to rumors that the virus was made by humans.

© 2020 AFP