First Coronavirus Case in Sub-Saharan Africa Detected in Nigeria

An Italian man who traveled to Nigeria is sub-Saharan Africa's first confirmed case of coronavirus, according to health officials.

© (PIUS UTOMI EKPEI/AFP/Getty Images) A securityman administers sanitiser to a visitor to a state hospital in Lagos, on February 28, 2020. - Residents of Nigeria's economic hub Lagos scrambled for hygiene products after the chaotic megacity of 20 million announced the first confirmed case of new coronavirus in sub-Saharan Africa. Health Minister Osagie Ehanire said in a statement overnight that the infected person was an Italian citizen who flew in from Milan, at the heart of Europe's largest outbreak, earlier this week. (Photo by PIUS UTOMI EKPEI / AFP) (Photo by PIUS UTOMI EKPEI/AFP via Getty Images)

Nigeria's Federal Ministry of Health confirmed the case in a tweet. The patient is an Italian citizen who returned to Lagos after a trip to Milan on Feb. 25.

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"The patient is clinically stable, with no serious symptoms, and is being managed at the Infectious Disease Hospital in Yaba, Lagos," the ministry said in a statement.

Health officials have begun identifying everyone the man could have contacted once he entered the country.

The ministry advised citizens to stay calm.

"Citizens must not abuse social media and indulge in spreading misinformation that causes fear and panic," it said.

Algeria earlier this week reported the first case on the continent – another traveler from Italy. The patient is under quarantine, according to Algerian officials.

The virus causes a disease named COVID-19. It has infected more than 83,000 people and killed nearly 2,900. Over 50 countries have reported cases of the virus, but the World Health Organization has not yet declared it a pandemic.

There are concerns that limited resources and already strained health systems in the region could help the virus take hold and spread quickly. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is already dealing with an outbreak of Ebola.

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