COVID-19 pandemic in Angola

Background

Timeline

March 2020

• On 19 March, a WhatsApp audio about an alleged case went viral, which was later denied.
• Effective from 20 March, all Angolan borders were closed for 15 days. President João Lourenço banned all arrivals at airports and stopped passenger vessels docking at Angolan ports for 15 days. All these bans will last until 4 April.
• On 21 March, the Ministry of Health confirmed the first two positive COVID-19 cases. The two cases had returned from Portugal. The first case was a Sonangol employee who flew from Lisbon to Luanda. The second case had flown in from Porto and was also under observation in Luanda.
• All schools in Angola closed on 24 March.
• On 29 March, the first two coronavirus-related deaths were recorded, while the total number of confirmed cases rose to seven.
• On 30 March, the first recovery case from COVID-19 was recorded. At the end of the month there had been 7 confirmed cases, 1 recovery and 2 deaths, leaving 4 active cases.

  April 2020

• On 10 April, 257 doctors from Cuba arrived in Angola in order to help the prevention of COVID-19 spread in Angola.
• On 15 April, it was reported that the 2582 people detained in Luanda under the State of Emergency have now been returned to the Zaire Province.
• During the month there were 20 new cases, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 27. The death toll remained unchanged. Seven patients recovered, leaving 18 active cases at the end of April.

  May 2020

• During the month there were 59 new cases, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 86. The death toll rose to 4. The number of recovered patients increased to 18, leaving 64 active cases by the end of the month.

  June 2020

• During June there were 198 new cases, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 284. The death toll rose to 13. The number of recovered patients increased to 93, leaving 178 active cases at the end of the month.