COVID-19 pandemic in Burundi

The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have reached Burundi on 1 April 2020.[2]

COVID-19 pandemic in Burundi
Disease	COVID-19
Virus strain	SARS-CoV-2
Location	Burundi
First outbreak	Wuhan, China
Index case	Bujumbura
Arrival date	31 March 2020 (4 months, 2 weeks and 2 days)
Confirmed cases	413 (as of 16 August)[1]
Active cases	97 (as of 16 August)
Recovered	315 (as of 16 August)
Deaths	1 (as of 16 August)

Background

On 12 January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) 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.[3][4]

The case fatality ratio for COVID-19 has been much lower than SARS of 2003,[5][6] but the transmission has been significantly greater, with a significant total death toll.[7][5] Model-based simulations for Burundi indicate that the 95% confidence interval for the time-varying reproduction number R _t has been stable below 1.0 since mid-April 2020.[8]

Timeline

COVID-19 cases in Burundi  ()      Deaths        Recoveries        Active cases Apr Apr May May Jun Jun Jul Jul Aug Aug Last 15 days Last 15 days
Date			# of cases	# of deaths
2020-04-01		​	2(n.a.)
2020-04-02		​	3(+50%)
⋮		​	3(=)
2020-04-12		​	5(+67%)
2020-04-13		​ ​	5(=)	1(n.a.)
⋮		​ ​	5(=)	1(=)
2020-04-20		​ ​	5(=)	1(=)
⋮		​ ​	5(=)	1(=)
2020-04-22		​ ​ ​	11(+120%)	1(=)
⋮		​ ​ ​	11(=)	1(=)
2020-05-02		​ ​ ​	15(+36%)	1(=)
⋮		​ ​ ​	15(=)	1(=)
2020-05-17		​ ​ ​	23(+53%)	1(=)
2020-05-18		​ ​ ​	42(+83%)	1(=)
⋮		​ ​ ​	42(=)	1(=)
2020-05-30		​ ​ ​	63(+50%)	1(=)
⋮		​ ​ ​	63(=)	1(=)
2020-06-06		​ ​ ​	83(+32%)	1(=)
⋮		​ ​ ​	83(=)	1(=)
2020-06-11		​ ​ ​	85(+2.4%)	1(=)
⋮		​ ​ ​	85(=)	1(=)
2020-06-16		​ ​ ​	104(+22%)	1(=)
⋮		​ ​ ​	104(=)	1(=)
2020-06-21		​ ​ ​	144(+38%)	1(=)
⋮		​ ​ ​	144(=)	1(=)
2020-06-27		​ ​ ​	170(+18%)	1(=)
⋮		​ ​ ​	170(=)	1(=)
2020-07-03		​ ​ ​	191(+12%)	1(=)
⋮		​ ​ ​	191(=)	1(=)
2020-07-13		​ ​ ​	269(+41%)	1(=)
⋮		​ ​ ​	269(=)	1(=)
2020-07-16		​ ​ ​	303(+13%)	1(=)
2020-07-17		​ ​ ​	310(+2.3%)	1(=)
⋮		​ ​ ​	310(=)	1(=)
2020-07-20		​ ​ ​	322(+3.9%)	1(=)
2020-07-21		​ ​ ​	328(+1.9%)	1(=)
2020-07-22		​ ​ ​	328(=)	1(=)
2020-07-23		​ ​ ​	345(+5.2%)	1(=)
⋮		​ ​ ​	345(=)	1(=)
2020-07-25		​ ​ ​	361(+4.6%)	1(=)
2020-07-26		​ ​ ​	361(=)	1(=)
2020-07-27		​ ​ ​	378(+4.7%)	1(=)
2020-07-28		​ ​ ​	378(=)	1(=)
2020-07-29		​ ​ ​	387(+2.4%)	1(=)
⋮		​ ​ ​	387(=)	1(=)
2020-08-01		​ ​ ​	395(+2.1%)	1(=)
⋮		​ ​ ​	395(=)	1(=)
2020-08-06		​ ​ ​	405(+2.5%)	1(=)
⋮		​ ​ ​	405(=)	1(=)
2020-08-09		​ ​ ​	408(+0.74%)	1(=)
⋮		​ ​ ​	408(=)	1(=)
2020-08-12		​ ​ ​	409(+0.25%)	1(=)
2020-08-13		​ ​ ​	410(+0.24%)	1(=)
2020-08-14		​ ​ ​	412(+0.49%)	1(=)

March 2020

Burundi's Health Minister Thadée Ndikumana confirmed the country's first two cases of coronavirus disease 2019 on 31 March, Burundi nationals travelling back from Rwanda and Dubai respectively.[9]

April 2020

On 2 April, a further positive case was confirmed, a 26-year-old woman, while 22 other people tested negative.[10] In total there were 13 new cases in April, bringing the number of confirmed cases to 15. One patient died (12 April) and 8 recovered, leaving 6 active cases at the end of the month.[11]

May 2020

On 12 May, the foreign ministry of Burundi addressed a letter to WHO's Africa headquarters, ordering four officials coordinating the coronavirus response to leave the country. The letter said the four individuals "are declared persona non grata and as such, must leave the territory of Burundi" by 15 May. The health minister reportedly accuses WHO of "unacceptable interference in [the country's] management of the coronavirus".[12]

There were 48 new cases in May, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 63. The death toll remained unchanged. 29 cases were active at the end of the month.[13]

June 2020

On 8 June, President Pierre Nkurunziza died of what was described as a heart attack in a government statement. However, with government authorities accused of deliberately covering up the scope of the pandemic, and in the wake of unconfirmed reports that his wife was flown to Kenya 10 days before, having contracted COVID-19,[14] some have speculated that the president died of COVID-19.[15]

There were 107 new cases in June, raising the total number of confirmed cases to 170. The death toll remained unchanged and the number of recovered patients rose to 115, leaving 54 active cases at the end of the month.[16]

July 2020

There were 217 new cases in July, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 387. The death toll remained unchanged. The number of recovered patients increased by 189 to 304, leaving 82 active cases at the end of the month.[17]

Prevention

On 12 March, the government instituted 14-day quarantining for people entering Burundi from affected countries.[18][19]

President Nkurunziza refused to impose restrictions on the country, permitting political rallies and sporting events to take place.[15]

See also

• COVID-19 pandemic in Africa
• COVID-19 pandemic by country and territory

References

1. "Burundi Coronavirus - Worldometer". www.worldometers.info. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
2. "Burundi confirms first 2 COVID-19 cases". www.aa.com.tr. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
3. Elsevier. "Novel Coronavirus Information Center". Elsevier Connect. Archived from the original on 30 January 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
4. Reynolds, Matt (4 March 2020). "What is coronavirus and how close is it to becoming a pandemic?". Wired UK. ISSN 1357-0978. Archived from the original on 5 March 2020. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
5. "Crunching the numbers for coronavirus". Imperial News. Archived from the original on 19 March 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
6. "High consequence infectious diseases (HCID); Guidance and information about high consequence infectious diseases and their management in England". GOV.UK. Archived from the original on 3 March 2020. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
7. "World Federation Of Societies of Anaesthesiologists – Coronavirus". www.wfsahq.org. Archived from the original on 12 March 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
8. Future scenarios of the healthcare burden of COVID-19 in low- or middle-income countries, MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis at Imperial College London.
9. "Coronavirus: Burundi's first cases, death in Botswana, Ghana's mass recoveries". Africa News. 1 April 2020. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
10. Burundi, IWACU (2 April 2020). "#Burundi Urgent Le ministre de la santé annonce le 3ème cas de covid-19. Une jeune fille de 26 ans. Le test pour 22 autres personnes a été négatif". @iwacuinfo (in French). Retrieved 2 April 2020.
11. "Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) situation report 101" (PDF). World Health Organization. 30 April 2020. p. 8. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
12. Burundi expels WHO officials coordinating coronavirus response
13. "Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) situation report 133" (PDF). World Health Organization. 1 June 2020. p. 7. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
14. Junior, Mireri. "Burundi First Lady hospitalised at Aga Khan with Covid-19". The Standard. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
15. correspondent, Jason Burke Africa (9 June 2020). "Burundi president dies of illness suspected to be coronavirus". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
16. "Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) situation report 163" (PDF). World Health Organization. 1 July 2020. p. 7. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
17. "Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) situation report 194" (PDF). World Health Organization. 1 August 2020. p. 5. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
18. "Burundi extends quarantine to travelers from U.S., Britain, Australia". China (Xinhua). 17 March 2020. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
19. "Travelers to Burundi to be quarantined for coronavirus". Anadolu Agency. 12 March 2020. Retrieved 17 March 2020.