COVID-19 pandemic in Lesotho | |
---|---|
Disease | COVID-19 |
Virus strain | SARS-CoV-2 |
Location | Lesotho |
First outbreak | Wuhan, Hubei, China (suspected) 30°35′14″N 114°17′17″E / 30.58722°N 114.28806°E |
Arrival date | 13 May 2020 (4 years, 5 months, 3 weeks and 4 days) |
Confirmed cases | 576 [1] (as of 29 July) |
Recovered | 141 [1] (as of 29 July) |
Deaths | 13 [1] (as of 29 July) |
Government website | |
About Coronavirus (COVID – 19) |
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have reached Lesotho on 13 May 2020.[2]
Until May 2020, Lesotho was the last country in Africa to have no reported coronavirus disease 2019 cases during the global pandemic.[3][4]
The country did not have the ability to test for the virus,[5] and so, in order to prevent the spread of the virus the government closed its border with South Africa.[6]
On 18 March, the government declared a national emergency despite having no confirmed cases, and closed schools until 17 April (but allowed school meals to continue).
Arriving travelers were to be quarantined for 14 days upon arrival.[5] Prime Minister Thomas Thabane announced a three-week lock down from midnight 29 March.[7]
Lesotho began sending its samples to South Africa's National Institute for Communicable Diseases for testing.[8] Lesotho began lifting some aspects of the lockdown on 5 May.[9]