Covid-19 success story? Eritrea thinks so

Eritrea may well be on the path to eliminating coronavirus from the country, according to the Health Ministry, after 38 of its 39 confirmed cases recovered and were discharged from hospital.

The government says it now has only one active case of Covid-19 following what officials say were strict guidelines for people to stay home.

Additionally, Eritrea hasn’t reported a single case of the disease since April 18 when four people were quarantined after contracting the virus.

The “standard tests” at the National Laboratory, said Yemane Meskel, the government spokesman and Minister for Information, showed 38 patients had so far recovered.

Despite this level of recovery, Asmara has stressed that the latest achievement should not prompt the public to relax newly changed behaviour enforced by the government.

“This important milestone should not induce complacency. The grave threat of the pandemic has not been eradicated. We are not out of the woods yet,” Mr Meskel said on Tuesday.

The Covid-19 tally in Eritrea stands at 39 cases, the lowest in the region. Officials say they were holding up to 3,000 people in quarantine and could test them several times for them to be released.

Assuming the Red Sea nation’s data is accurate, Eritrea could be headed to being Africa’s first country to free itself from the virus.

Officials, however, face a daunting task to keep the country totally free of Covid-19 even as it interacts with neighbours.

Just last week, President Isaias Afwerki broke his own government's rules by travelling to neighbouring Ethiopia where he met Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in Addis Ababa.

Ethiopia has reported 261 cases, including 11 new ones on Tuesday.