As new spikes in coronavirus cases continue to surface in countries across the globe, the World Health Organisation’s concerns for one continent in particular continue to grow.

Despite only having 15 confirmed cases to date, Africa with a population of 1.2 billion is highlighted by WHO as an area where the coronavirus could rapidly take off due to a lack of adequate health systems in place in some areas.

The continent is frantically preparing for an outbreak and planning how to reduce its effects.

Testing laboratories are being supplied, quarantine and hospital treatment facilities are being readied for patients, and public health advisories have been issued.

There have been eight confirmed cases in Algeria, two in Egypt, one in Tunisia, one in Nigeria, two in Senegal and one in Morocco.

Yet only two of those are on a list of 13 countries, nearly a quarter of all countries on the continent, which have been identified by the World Health Organisation as at risk of becoming centres for the disease.

The list has been made by WHO on the basis of volume of traffic between China and weak health surveillance and treatment systems.

The countries included on the list are Algeria, Angola, Cote d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

“It is critical that countries step up their readiness and in particular put in place effective screening mechanisms at airports and other major points of entry to ensure that the first cases are detected quickly,” WHO Regional Director for Africa Dr Matshidiso Moeti said last month.

Nigeria on Friday became the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to report a confirmed case when an Italian citizen travelling from Milan on a business trip fell ill after arriving at Lagos, Nigeria's largest city with 20 million people.

With the case in Nigeria, concern has grown over the virus spreading to countries with weaker health systems. (Yahoo News)

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