The Ministry of Health today said the first confirmed coronavirus patient in The Gambia has made “remarkable recovery” and will soon be discharged if two consecutive laboratory tests are negative.

The patient, a 28-year-old Gambian woman, tested positive for the virus after travelling from UK on a Royal Air Maroc flight last Tuesday. She has been receiving medical care at the Medical Research Council in Fajara. 

“The first patient of Covid 19 (coronavirus) diagnosed in The Gambia has improved remarkably and will be discharged soon if the second consecutive laboratory test is negative,” the Health ministry said in a statement. 

All passengers on her flight, which included the country’s army chief, were contact traced by health officials and tested for the virus. They were all asked to self-isolate for 14 days. 

The Health ministry statement added “since the diagnosis of the first case last week, nine suspected cases have undergone testing and one has tested positive today.”

The first coronavirus death in the Gambia was announced yesterday. The deceased was a 70-year-old Bangladeshi preacher who entered the country on March 13 from Senegal. 

The country is in lockdown after President Adama Barrow closed all borders including the airspace and banned public gatherings as Precautionary measures to stop the spread of the virus.  

Reporting by Adama Makasuba