As governments around the world fight hard to halt the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, there are about 15 countries on earth without any reported COVID-19 cases. Since the virus infection was first discovered in China’s central city of Wuhan, Hubei Province in December 2019, it has recorded over 2.6million confirmed cases worldwide, with 185,504 deaths and 730,843 recoveries as of Thursday (April 23) noon amidst throwing global economies into one of the worst recessions in recent history.
But as of April 22, two African nations, out of the 54 that made up the continent, are yet to report any single case of the COVID-19 infection alongside 13 others from other continents.
They are Lesotho and Comoros. Lesotho has a total population of 2,139,031 people, just as Comoros has 865,950 based on Worldometers elaboration of United Nations data. While Lesotho shares borders with South Africa which has reported 3,635 confirmed cases, according to Worldmeters, Comoros is an island nation located about 180 miles off the eastern coast of Africa.
Comoros’ remote location may likely accounts for the lack of COVID-19 cases in the Island nation.
Other countries of the world with no confirmed COVID-19 case include: Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tajikistan, Tonga, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and North Korea.
This is coming as Nigeria recorded 108 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total confirmed cases in the country to 981, with 31 deaths while 197 have fully recovered, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
Lagos, Nigeria’s largest commercial city, also reported additional two COVID-19 related deaths on Thursday afternoon, bringing to 18, the total COVID-19 deaths recorded in the Nigerian state alone.
Aside nations without cases, there are also 11 human-inhabited territories or islands with no confirmed cases as of April 22.
They are: Pitcairn Islands, UK; Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, UK; American Samoa, US; Wallis and Futuna, France; Svalbard, Norway; Christmas Island, Australia; Norfolk Island, Australia; Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Australia; Niue, New Zealand; Tokelau, New Zealand and Cook Islands, New Zealand.