COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of the Congo


The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have reached the Republic of the Congo 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 the Republic of the Congo suggest that the 95% confidence interval for the time-varying reproduction number R t has been stable above 1.0 since mid-May 2020.

Timeline

March 2020

The country's first case was announced on 14 March, a 50-year-old man who returned to the Republic of the Congo from Paris, France. Two more cases were detected on 19 March. As of 31 March, there were 19 cases in the Republic of the Congo.
The country reported its first two deaths on 31 March, both of which in Pointe-Noire.

April 2020

There were 201 new cases in April, raising the total number of cases to 220. The death toll rose to 9. Nineteen patients recovered, leaving 192 active cases at the end of the month.

May 2020

In May there were 384 new cases, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 604. The death toll more than doubled to 20. The number of recovered patients increased to 172, leaving 412 active cases at the end of the month.

June 2020

During the month there were 725 new cases, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 1329. The death toll more than doubled to 41. The number of recovered patients increased to 694, leaving 594 active cases at the end of the month.