The COVID19 coronavirus outbreak has spread to at least over 15 countries on the African continent.

Ethiopia, Sudan and Guinea all confirming their first cases on Friday.

Ghana confirmed two first cases Thursday night, March 12, 2020.

“We confirm that a Japanese man who is 48 years of age, has tested positive for the virus. This is the first case in Ethiopia,” Liya Kebede, Ethiopia’s health minister, said in a news briefing.

COVID-19 Outbreak: cases, deaths and all the live updates

“The Japanese man arrived in Ethiopia from Burkina Faso last week, and he is now receiving medical treatment,” Liya said, adding: “He is in good condition.”

She said they are identifying people who were in close contact with the patient.

According to her, the country is prepared to tackle the coronavirus outbreak.

In Sudan, the Sudanese citizen had recently been in the United Arab Emirates, the health ministry said in a statement, without providing further details.

Meanwhile, an employee of the European Union delegation in Guinea has tested positive for coronavirus, a delegation spokesman said on Friday, in Guinea’s first confirmed case of the virus.

The patient had self-isolated after she felt ill upon returning to Guinea from Europe, spokesman Halimou Sow said.

After emerging in Wuhan, China last December, the virus, officially known as COVID-19, has spread to at least 132 countries and territories.

The global death toll is now over 5,000, with more than 132,000 confirmed cases, according to the World Health Organization, which has declared the outbreak a “pandemic.”

Africa had so far been largely spared the spread of COVID-19.

About 68,000 victims have recovered, according to Johns Hopkins University, which is tracking the virus.