COVID-19 pandemic in Eswatini


The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have reached Eswatini in March 2020.

Background

On 12 January 2020, the World Health Organization confirmed that a novel coronavirus was the cause of a respiratory illness in a cluster of people in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, which was reported to the WHO on 31 December 2019.
The case fatality ratio for COVID-19 has been much lower than SARS of 2003, but the transmission has been significantly greater, with a significant total death toll. Model-based simulations for Eswatini suggest that the 95% confidence interval for the time-varying reproduction number R t has exceeded 1.0 since late April 2020, gradually climbing to around 1.5 by July.

Timeline

March

On 14 March, the country's first case of COVID-19 was confirmed. A 33-year-old woman, who returned from the United States at the end of February and then travelled to Lesotho before returning home to Eswatini, entered isolation. Two suspected cases were identified by 11 March 2020, the first a woman returning from Denmark, and the other a woman who had hosted visitors from Germany.
On 24 March, the ministry of health announced a fifth confirmed case. A 52-year-old male who had traveled to the United States earlier in the same month had tested positive.
During March, nine persons tested positive. At the end of the month all nine cases were still active.

April

On 16 April, the country recorded its first COVID-19-related death, a 59-year-old man with diabetes as an underlying condition. This month, 91 persons tested positive, bringing the total number of confirmed cases since the start of the outbreak to 100. At the end of April, 87 cases were active.

May

During the month 185 persons tested positive, bringing the total number of confirmed cases since the start of the outbreak to 285. The death toll rose to 2. By the end of May, 94 cases were active.

June

On 23 June, the government announced it would ban alcohol as of 1 July in an attempt to contain the spread after a rapid increase in new cases over the previous two weeks.
During June, 527 persons tested positive, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 812. The death toll rose to 11. By the end of June, 393 cases were active.