Yes, calling it "covfefe" was my idea, and yep, as Molyneux's guest on the subject said, there are a million Chinese workers in Africa, and many of those likely came from Wuhan recently, after the Covfefe virus had spread already. And if it is the one they spliced AIDS RNA into, then it should spread two or three times as quickly in Africa, by sexual transmission as well. It may wipe out China and Africa? Well... Wan Dan Sweet Wuhan.

Zerohedge article

Update: Fears that the coronavirus outbreak will be officially declared a global pandemic have grown after the first case was confirmed in sub-Saharan Africa. Nigeria’s health ministry said the case was found in Lagos, one of Africa’s biggest cities, with a population of 20 million people.

Africa has recorded only two cases up to now, one in Algeria and one in Egypt.

The spread of contagion to countries with poor public health systems has alarmed the World Health Organization, which said it could “get out of control”.

*  *  *

Via Golem XIV's blog,

Surely it is time to stop pretending that in all of Africa there are only three cases of Coronavirus (1 in each of Algeria, Egypt, and Nigeria)?  Everything we now know about the virus makes this virtually impossible to believe.

We know that despite alarm being expressed by other African nations, Ethiopia has continued to keep open its air link to China via Bole International airport. The Ethiopian authorities have justified their decision by quoting the WHO president’s ‘expert advice’ that travel bans were not going to stop the virus and therefore were not recommended. As reported by Global Research,

… he made the inexplicable statement that other countries were not warranted to ban air travel to China as precaution. He declared,” It’s not a time for judgment… This is a time for solidarity, not stigma,” refusing to recommend any international restrictions on travel or trade with China.

This seems very odd and ill-advised ‘expert advice’ when at the same time the official line is that while we may not be able to stop the spread of the virus we should strive to slow it down to give us as much time as possible to look for treatments and a vaccine.

What else do we know? Well we can see from recent events in Italy that the virus spreads very fast before anyone is likely to show any symptoms. We also know how easy it is for over-worked doctors to not pay enough attention to symptoms which on their own  are not all that serious to begin with and could be the result of the common cold or ordinary strains of flu.  The Corona virus does not present with the kind of dramatic symptoms that make it easy to spot.

We also know that the two things about this virus which makes it very dangerous and almost impossible to stop. The first is the very  long, unusually long, suspiciously long latency period when someone can carry the virus and be highly infectious without showing any symptoms at all. The second is that Covid19 is easily transmitted and very highly infectious.

Despite having all the advantages of wealth and warning none of the best prepared, best off countries have been able to stop its spread. Is it believable that the Coronavirus is not already spreading in African countries?

If Coronavirus is spreading in Africa then everyday we hear no reports of it, is another day it is spreading unreported and untreated. Is this alarmist?  I certainly hope so but common sense tells me its just tragically very likely.

The latency period before someone shows symptoms means that it is quite possible for someone to be carrying the virus but show no signs whatever when they arrive at the airport and are screened. If they did have the virus then given its infectivity it is highly probable that other passengers being in close contact in a sealed environment like a jet for many hours are going to be infected. None of them will show any symptoms when screened. How many of them will travel on to other airports, other cities other towns where there are fewer if any facilities for testing?

Could this scenario happen? Well  we already have the case of a Chinese worker to flew into Kenya, who was not stopped or quarantined at the airport and travelled on to a road construction site in Kitui county outside Nairobi. Why was he not stopped? Well for the perfectly good reason that he was not showing any symptoms.  The case came to light because when the man arrived at the construction site,

…road workers contracted by Sinohydro Corporation reported a case of a visibly sick Chinese national in their construction camp.

The Kenyan article went on to say that his colleagues were told to isolate him and observe him but not to come into contact with him.

The case made the papers in Kenya because when local police arrived at the camp they were denied admission by the Chinese company Sinohydro Corporation. It was also reported in the Kenyan press that a local medical team were also denied access.

Medics denied entry to Sinohydro Mutomo camp

Kitui County Chief Officer for Health Richard Muthoka confirmed that his medical team was also denied entry to the camp.

“Our medical team wasn’t allowed to access the Chinese camp in Mutomo but we have taken the necessary measures to swiftly establish what is happening and ensure all people working and mingling with the foreigners are safe,” Dr Muthoka stated.

Its interesting and important to note that an article in the ChinaDaily refuted the story the very same day. According to the Chinese article the man was not sick and his quarantine was routine. Which may well be true.

All this was 10 days ago. There has been no update that I can find. But whether the man was carrying the virus and was sick or whether it was all routine precaution is not really the point. Given the long latency of the virus we know from what has happened in Italy that the man could have been carrying and spreading the virus. Even if he was not how likely is it that no one entering Africa has been?

If I am in any way right, and I fervently hope I am not right, then all the headlines telling us how China getting its epidemic under control will not really matter from a global point of view. Of course it will be a huge triumph for China and I hope they succeed. But because the world seems to be turning a  blind eye to what might be going on unreported in Africa,  we could soon find that we have merely substituted one huge reservoir of infection for another. And Africa, unlike China is not going to be able to contain it.

In South Africa which is considered one of the African countries better equipped to deal with the virus this was the headline in The South African.

Coronavirus in Africa: Scare in Namibia, as SA hospital ‘not ready’ for cases

(More at link)